Star Born
by LeeMarieJack
Summary: Trapped in an endless cycle of birth and death the Winchesters are reborn as natives of the Pegasus Galaxy planet, Athos. As the four year old boy begins to access memories from a prior life he uses the knowledge to protect his baby brother, San. When the Wraith culls their village De uses that knowledge to save them. Other people notice.
1. Chapter 1- How It Began

00O00

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 1**

**How It Began**

Once there were a couple of Hunters. Not the kind that shoot deer or moose or ducks but Hunters of the Supernatural. They were brothers, raised in the life by their slightly deranged Father. Their father, John Winchester, had started out in life as a completely normal, kind young man who fell in love with the wrong woman. Mary Campbell was the love of John's life. She was pretty, intelligent, kind and cursed.

Mary came from a long line of people involved with the Supernatural. When John met Mary he was a former Marine who simply wanted to be a mechanic and raise a family with his beloved Mary. A normal, everyday type of guy he had no idea that Mary, who claimed to want the same things, could never be normal. When you are cursed from birth there is no escape. You can't break a curse you can only get out of its way. Mary thought she could run.

She found out one night that there was no escape. Once hell had your scent it came after you no matter how you dodged and ran. She traded away the future to rescue John from death and ten years later hell came to collect its due. Her baby son was forfeit.

She tried to break the deal and died, roasted on the nursery ceiling in full view of John and her sons. She should have known better. You can't break a curse you only can get out of its way.

.._..-.._..-.._..

The boys were named Dean and Sam, after their Campbell grandparents, Samuel and Deanna. Sam was six months old when Mary was killed and shortly after that John was introduced to the supernatural by a local psychic. John lost his footing in reality then and started dragging his children all over the country, looking for the monster that destroyed his perfect life.

He drank to sleep, he drank to get up and face another day. The only relief for him was killing every supernatural being he met along the way. It never occurred to him that the most supernatural beings he would ever find were growing up in the back seat of his car.

Sam and Dean looked normal. They were unnaturally beautiful for little boys and later men. They were also faster, smarter and more violent than any children they met on the roadways and highways they were dragged down. They never stayed anywhere for long. John was constantly uprooting them to chase his next 'hunt'. They didn't dare form attachments or make friends because they never knew from day to day when they might just disappear.

They only had each other and their father's car as constants in their lives and their worlds revolved around each other. The attachment grew as they aged to a point where one could not be out of the sight of the other, as was only natural. They were the two sides of a single soul, two parts of one living being. They were incomplete and bereft if one was kept away and they could not stay dead.

If one were to die the other would follow shortly thereafter. It had happened over and over, in other lives, on other worlds. They were the universe's perfect soul mates, an essential key in keeping the universe in balance. Without them a basic strand of reality would snap and reality would unravel like pulling a loose thread on a sweater.

This was the curse passed down through their bloodline, a direct line back to the original creation.

Then John Winchester married Mary Campbell and the curse buried in the Winchester bloodline was added to the curse of the Campbells. The perfect soul mates were also the perfect angelic vessels and heaven began to pay attention.

_.._..-.._..-.._.._

"_Where are you now, brother?" Dean slipped on to the balcony and wrapped himself in his brother's long arms._

"_I dream of Egypt." Sam replied, rubbing his cheek against Deans' hair._

"_I see us sleeping in each other's embrace, in our sun boat, gliding among the river's reeds."_

"_The Southern wind rattles the reeds and the current of the Nile rocks the boat. Ra's disk rises and we come to the end of another night's voyage. We greet again Ptah, the Disk of Heaven, who illuminates the world with the fire of his eyes. "_

"_Our hearts have been weighed on the scales of Anubis in the presence of Renenit, Meskhenit and Shai and we are judged pure and come back to the kingdom of day. The city awakes with us and we begin again."_

_Dean laughs lightly. "It was your favorite life, wasn't it?"_

"_We danced and loved and walked among men unafraid. We were as gods and none dare touch or even look at us. What was there not to like?" Sam sighed._

"_Yeah, well you didn't have to go around with a damn basket, finding pieces of your lover. That wasn't fun, "huffed Dean._

"_Yes, but the resurrection was glorious and we live forever in the memories of men. It brings us to this point as centuries pass. Don't sulk." Sam sighed again and pulled Dean in snugly and kissed the side of his neck. "What do your dream of, my love? Where in time do you dwell?"_

"_Remember Arcadia?" Dean answered, "The sun on the ocean waves and the colors running up the mountain side; light chasing night away. We were as children, playing in the fields. That place stays with me. No men, the earth was new and fresh. No gods, just us and laughter. Why not there instead of Egypt?" Dean murmured._

"_It was the perfect garden, yes'. Sam whispered, "but you did not love me yet."_

"_Not true. I have always loved you." Dean replied._

"_There was no depth, no shade, to our love," objected Sam. "It was all bright, shiny and soft. I cried out for more and we left the garden behind. If you did not feel it, why did you follow me?"_

"_You know why I followed you. I would sooner abandon myself than you." Dean replied, "Are we going to go on mooning about on this balcony or are we going to see what this day holds?"_

.._..-.._..-.._..

So they grew and began their own lives, John cast away, expended as unimportant, his function fulfilled. Dean mourned the man while Sam rejoiced that John was dead. There came an adventure in time when the soul mates traveled back to prevent the death of John and Mary before the brothers were born. Dean fought the plans of angels and Sam fell in battle.

The archangel Michael came to Dean to negotiate for Dean's body as he was Michael's so called perfect vessel. Michael said he only wanted to talk and after their conversation he promised Dean to bring back "your darling Sammy". The archangel was so convinced that he knew all, he controlled all, that the plan as laid out by his creator was working its way out perfectly, that he never really looked at the creature in front of him.

Michael could not see that Death had already punched Dean's ticket. Every moment the Sam did not breathe Dean stepped closer to the edge of the cliff. Once he went over, he would go with his brother and they would become something new.

In the universe's scheme of things the Archangel was just a bit player. His desire for the perfect vessel which would enable him to fight his own brother as enclosed in Samuel was a minor inconvenience on one small world in a minor galaxy and Death laughed at the plans of God.

So the Winchester brothers lived and learned and loved each other. They fought off the apocalypse, the most terrible of Hell's demons, and the most self-righteous of Heaven's angels and went on. They fought and won against The Mother of All. They defeated the Leviathans, creatures so depraved that God's only answer had been to lock them away before they ate all the fish in God's aquarium. They battled Ezekiel, an Angel so old he had witnessed the fall of Eve's apple. Still no one thought to challenge the humanity of the Winchesters.

In the end of that life they lay down together under the stars in one of the vast deserts of the Earth and died, locked together in a dream of water and wild oceans. Where ever they were bound they hoped only that there would be time enough to love again. To see new mountains, to learn new stars ,to pass through time hand in hand, that was a version of heaven to the immortal brothers.

.._..-.._..-.._..

_I found you outside Leningrad; asleep in the snowy field. Your face, a crystalline mask of glittering shards, was white and still; your lips so blue. Your eyelashes traced a sparking path, resting on the cold, quiet skin._

_I am so sorry you died alone. I would rather have been here when your last breath coalesced and fell as frost upon your cheek, but I ran and hid from the German guns upon the battlefield, selfishly deciding to live in hope of finding you again._

_But here you are, gone on without me._

_Please, no more snow, no more black, freezing nights under a sky alive with the cruelest stars of all. They are so sharp, so clear, no comfort there. I crave the summer skies, wrapped in your arms beside the pulsing sea._

_Do you remember Angkor Wat, my love? We climbed the winding stair, our fingers tracing out the sacred carvings, as the jungle birds flew above us, screaming out their names. Panting and sweating we finally reached the top of Mount Meru, the sacred mountain, and Vishnu allowed us rest_

_I will lie here beside you with my head upon your quiet breast and wait for the snow and cold to take me with you. I promise I will not leave. We will be a single, frozen sculpture; asleep upon the blood drenched ground._

_When we awake again, let it be in grassy fields. A yellow sun, rolling through the sky will warm our naked skin. No more cold, no more touch of frost. Leave the memory of bloody snow only in our fevered dreams_

_So we travel through time together, always finding one another, bound together in an eternal love, reflected in each other's eyes._

_Now I will sleep in winter's embrace and wait for better days._


	2. Chapter 2 - In a Village Beside the Sea

00O00

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 2**

**In a Village beside the Sea**

I saw the child Doathan first when he was only about four years old. He and his brother Sandow were brought to the main Athosian village after their small sea side community had been culled by the Wraith. These two small boys were the only survivors and why the Wraith did not follow the usual raiding pattern and drain them of their tiny portion of life then leave only the dead bodies behind was a mystery.

I am Teyla Emmagan, daughter of Torren and Tagan and the leader of our people. It is my job to keep all my people safe so the little boys became my responsibility. As I spent a great deal of time traveling between the village and the Earth people inhabiting the ancient's city they called Atlantis I placed Doathan and Sandow with my son's, Torren John, caretaker Anamath, a good, kind woman who was also a teacher of the young.

I did notice how possessive Doathan was of his tiny brother, Sandow. He carried the baby with him everywhere, cleaning, feeding and playing with the six month old baby as if he was the infant's parent instead of a tiny four year old child himself. Anamath told me that she had a great deal of difficulty in separating the two boys for even small periods of time.

I assumed that Doathan's possessive attitude about his brother was due to the horror of seeing everyone they knew for their short lives murdered by the Wrath. I know I would want to hold on to the last tiny part of my family so I could sympathize. However, a four year old child should not be able to defy adults who were only trying to care for both the brothers.

I asked for the brothers to be brought to me and when Anamath returned shortly in a panic saying she couldn't find them anywhere Doathan's defiance seemed to have reached the dangerous level. He was so small and carrying a baby that matched a third of his own weight I felt sure the pair could not be far away. We sent out searchers and combed the woods and fields around our village. I was shocked when everyone returned empty handed.

In despair as night was coming on I called out to John Shepard on Atlantis to see if he would send one of his Puddle Jumper ships to help us search. I knew the ships were equipped with life sign detectors and as long as the boys were alive they would be found. John responded immediately. The Atlantian's desire to stay allied with our people made my plea for help take on the air of a request from a foreign government. John always exaggerated my control over my people.

The Puddle Jumper arrived from Atlantis with John as a pilot just as twilight was coming on and he set out immediately in a search pattern. My good friend Ronon Dex had volunteered come along to help with the hunt and I greeted him with joy. The tall Satedan would be tireless in a search.

An hour later I was not surprised to see Ronon step out of the ship with a small boy under each arm. He carefully handed the baby Sandow to Anamath while Doathan howled and kicked and fought the Runner. Doathan wanted to be released so he could get his brother back.

We retreated back into the Puddle Jumper to sit down with our little runaway. I was again was interested to see that even in these alien surroundings Doathan's attitude held. He didn't appear to be cowed by anything or anyone.

I took a careful look at our small trouble maker. He was a very unusual looking Athosian. Yes, he had the creamy sun darkened skin of a native exposed in the outdoors all day but he also had little speckles of a darker color scattered over his nose. His eyes were a rich bright green, a color I had not seen in one of my people before. His hair was also strangely light. All in all he was a striking looking little boy. These strange elements combined to make him quite beautiful. I wondered what the baby would come to look like.

I turned to Ronon. "Where did you find him?"

"He got pretty far away." Ronon replied. "He was a couple of klicks out and moving fast." The man laughed. "When I came up behind him he also did a pretty good job of fading into the underbrush. He's been taking lessons from someone. I suspect a small fast animal of some sort."

"Doathan, where were you going with Sandow?" I asked the little boy. He was standing in the middle of a circle of adults with his arms folded and his chin raised. Any other four year old I knew might be dissolved in tears at this point but not Doathan. He stood like a little soldier and glared at us all.

"Call me De," he snapped back at me, ignoring my question. "Where's San? I want to see San. I'm not talking to you until I have my brother back,"

The little boy stomped his foot. I'm afraid I actually laughed out loud. I want to jump up and go hug the irritated little warrior but I thought he might bite me. Ronon Dex was very impressed and rose to his feet.

"Where are you going, Ronon?" I asked.

"I'm going to go get his brother for him. I want to hear more of this child's experiences with the Wrath. I want to understand how this small boy escaped when the rest of his village was destroyed." Ronon replied.

Ronon soon returned with the swaddled baby in his arms. De stretched his arms out and took his brother from the Satedan who had to bend over to deliver the bundle. De took his brother who had been crying and held on tight. The baby immediately quieted and De checked the baby's face and cooed at him.

Now De looked at us. "What do you want to know?" He asked.

"How did you hide from the Wraith, De?" I asked softly, not wanting to frighten him. "How did you and San get away?"

"Didn't hide." De answered. "We were 'tected. I made us 'tected."

"What is 'tected, De?" Ronon asked.

De stared up at the big man with the long dreadlocks. "Not 'tected. We were pro 'tected. I made the signs of pro 'tection."

There was silence in the circle. Everyone glanced at each other but I was the one who spoke. "De, you made the signs of protection? Is that what you said?"

The little guy stomped his foot again. "Stupid. No 'tection here. I was taking San back to be 'tected again."

John Shepard asked, "This isn't an Athosian thing, is it? Do you know what the signs of protection might be?"

"No, John." I replied. "I have never heard of the signs of protection." I stared back at De again.

"De," he looked back up at me. I had distracted him from studying San's face. "De, how do you know about these signs of projection? Who told you about them?"

"No one told, I just know." He pulled a stubborn face at me again, sticking his lips out and straightening his stance. "I want us to go back home. I want San to be 'tected again. I want to go." He made an effort to dodge out of the circle of adults and almost made it with a swift feint from side to side but Ronon flung out a long arm and snag the back of the boy's pants.

Ronon grunted as De rammed an elbow into the Satedan's gut.

"Settle down, De." I snapped. " Don't hurt Ronon. Ronon is your friend."

"Ha," De barked back. "I need to get San to 'tection. You shouldn't stop me. The monsters might come again." Now the little tough guy was close to crying.

"John," I turned to Shepard. "Do you think you could run us over to De's village in the Puddle Jumper? I really want to see these signs of protection. I've never heard of such things but we have two live boys and a village full of dead adults. Let's go look at these signs of protection."

"I agree," Shepard replied. "I want to see them too."

00O00

The puddle jumper made short work of the distance to De's village. De was extremely uncomfortable and complained all the way about being in the air. He definitely didn't like to fly and this was the first crack in his little tough guy character I had seen. He was evidently afraid of heights. During the entire trip he held on tightly to his San and kept his eyes shut as much as possible. He did look every time there was a bump or a new noise and by the end of the trip he was a bundle of nerves.

He ran out of the jumper as soon as it sat down and surprised us all. We chased after him in a long strung out file of startled adults. For a little guy De could certainly move. He moved, however, away from the village. He ran along the edge of the beach near the trees and after about 300 meters disappeared into the undergrowth.

This is where Ronon took command of our file. I tracked behind the Satedan looking for broken leaves and hidden paths. We closed in on De in a dead heat. The little boy had backed into a small cone shipped hut and sat crossed legged in the doorway trying to catch his breath. His brother lay peacefully in De's lap. I was beginning to believe that San was the calmest baby I had ever seen.

As we approached De called out, "Don't break the rocks. You will break the 'tection. Stay off the rocks."

We looked down and there were patterns laid out all around the hut. Flat faced rocks were sunk into the ground and appeared to be held in patterns with packed sand. Standing back I looked at the symbols. They appeared to be five pointed stars the points of which touched the edge of a circle. Various symbols were carefully drawn in red sand in the open spaces. They surrounded De's little hut. Each circle was just lightly touching the next and you could not pass between them easily. This was De's protection. They were his symbols of protection and who were we to argue with success?

John Shepard arrived and stood beside us. "I have seen something like this before." he said. He pulled out a device and began taking pictures of the circles. Other members of the team showed up panting and out of breath, proving just how fast De could run and how hard it was to keep up with Ronon Dex.

The guards that John had brought with them began to spread out through the trees. De looked up at that. "Tell them to be careful." He huffed. "Tell them not to walk on the rocks. Don't break the pro 'tection. Not safe."

One of the guards returned to John very quickly and whispered something to his commander. John turned to me. "Teyla, how long ago was this village attacked?"

"As far as I know, it was three days ago." I answered. "Why?"

"I'm going to ask my crewman to stay here with De. I need you and Ronon to come with me." John said.

I had begun to receive a warning buzz. My Wrath sense was spiking but it was very, very weak. "There are Wrath somewhere very close," I warned John.

"I know." John replied. 'Don't worry. I know exactly what is setting off your alarm. Come with me." 

We set off into the edge of the forest and within a few steps began to find more of De's signs of protection scattered among the trees. In one we found a dead Wrath soldier and a short distance away another. There was nothing to show how the Wrath had died but we were very aware and very careful not to step on any of De's signs of protection. Now our imaginations were running wild. What did the child know and how did he know it?

We were even more shocked when we stepped out from under the trees and found a live Wrath sitting in one of the circles in an open clearing. The soldier watched us carefully but made no moves at all. He was sitting in the center of the circle and holding his hands wrapped around his knees. He looked to be in pretty bad shape, if you could tell when a Wrath was feeling poorly. Just something was not right.

Another of the guards moved forward with his gun pointed at the Wrath and the creature watched eagerly as if waiting for something to happen. John Shepard barked out an order for the guard to stop moving and it was as if the forest and all the actors in the scene just held their breath.

"Do not, under any circumstances step on or over the rock pattern." John instructed.

"Teyla, could you go back and get De?" John asked. "There is a lot here I don't understand."

00O00

I went back and talked De out of his little hut. I told him that we needed his help and that seemed to do it. He very carefully handed his San over to the guard with a warning growl about what he would do if San got hurt. You could manipulate De through his over developed protective side and when I said I needed his help he came willingly.

When we passed the first of the dead Wraths his only response was "Good." The second dead Wrath got the same response but the living Wrath was a completely different response. When the Wrath solder tried to stand up it was pretty obvious he was on his last reserves but the dead face glared at De and it was a glare of hate.

De lowered his head and held his arm out straight in front of him. He held his palm towards the Wraith, curled his forefinger and thumb so that they touched and made a circle and held the rest of his fingers straight up. Once again this action seemed to be something that John Shepard recognized and the Atlantian appeared shocked. He was holding his communications device to his ear and turned the speaker on so that we could all clearly hear Rodney McKay's voice. "It's a freaking pentagram! Why does anyone in the Pegasus Galaxy know how to draw a pentagram?"

Rodney's hectoring voice was drown out as De started to chant; "Adjuro te, serpens antique, per judicem vivorum et mortuorum, per factorem tuum, per factoreum mundi…." De's voice sounded unlike any four year voice I had ever heard. It was deeper, darker and there was no childish attempt to make the words easier to say. They were crisp, clear and powerful.

As De's chant went on the Wrath in the circle began to scream; to scream with a high pitched horrible noise that rattled my teeth. I dropped a hand onto the top of De's head. For a moment the boy's voice stopped, the Wrath stopped screaming and we all clearly heard the latest outraged yell from Dr. McKay. "Latin! Who the hell is speaking Latin? What is going on out there?"


	3. Chapter 3 - Moving Through the Circles

00O00

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 3**

**Moving through the Circles**

"De," I said to our small warrior. "What are you doing to him?"

De opened his eyes and dropped his hand. The Wraith seemed to collapse inside the circle and De looked up at me. "I am sending him away. I am sending him where he can't hurt San."

I knelt in the grass and laid a hand on De's arm. "De, we all want to know how you do this. We want to help you project San from the monsters."

De looked at me doubtfully. "You want to make protection someplace else for San and me.?" His speech was getting stronger but it was not approaching that strange voice that had chanted the mysterious words earlier.

"Yes De," I answered softly. "We all want to help you protect San but you will have to show us how. Did you make all these circles by yourself?"

"No," he answered. "I told how and the others brought me the rocks."

"What others, De?" I went on. "Who helped build the circles?"

De stared down at his toes. "My Mother and Dad helped me. And the other kids helped me but when the monsters came they all ran away. I couldn't make them stop. They all ran away and the monsters killed them."

The little boy was crying now; a silent crying. He stood there with tears pouring down his face and he was trying very hard to ignore them. I thought it might help if I ignored them too. Standing up I gave him the space he needed to wipe his face with his sleeve. "I want to go back to San now, please." He said and he looked very tired.

"De, you need to tell us how to get the Wrath out of his circle." I said.

"Why?" De looked up at me. "I can make him stop. Do you want me to make him stop?"

De raised his arm again but I laid my hand on it softly and pushed it back down. "No De. Don't make him stop. We want to take him with us."

De looked at me in surprise. "Why do you want the monster? He might kill you like he killed my mother and dad. Why do you want him when I can make him stop?"

"We want to know the things he knows, De." I tried to explain to the little boy. "We need him alive to help us find some of our friends and maybe some of your friends too."

"Maybe they aren't dead?" he asked.

"I don't know De." I said in a rush realizing that I had just given the little boy false hope. "Just sometimes, not very often, the Wraith take people away with them. If we talk to this one maybe he can tell us if he knows where people might be."

"Alright," De said slowly. "To break the circle take any rock out. That makes a bridge and the monster can come out then." He sighed. "Wait for me to get back to San then you take the rock out." He turned around and left, heading back to his precious San and leaving us all standing around mystified.

De turned back for just a moment. "If you want I can make him talk to you. I can hurt him and make him talk. Do you want me to help?" he seemed very serious about offering to basically torture the Wraith.

This child was beginning to frighten me. "No De, that's all right." I assured him. "I'm sure the Wraith will talk to us. Don't worry. You just go on aback to your brother." De headed back to San.

00O00

When De was out of sight John lifted out one of the circle stones and the Wraith immediately tried to run. With the circle broken we were surprised to find out that he could move in any direction. He didn't try to move to where the stone had been taken; he immediately headed away from us. He was weak and slow and suffering damage from I assume three days sitting trapped in De's circle and possibly further weakened by De's chant. In short he was very easy to catch and the guard brought him down in mere moments.

John called the guard he had left with the Puddle Jumper and the man, who was also a pilot, brought the machine to our location. We loaded the Wraith into the Jumper with the guards and John told them to take off for Atlantis. It was time for me to remind John exactly whose territory he was violating and he apologized for taking the Wraith away but I didn't think he would be bringing the prisoner back any time soon. We wouldn't know what to do with the Wraith anyway. I was just feeling slighted on behalf of the Athosian people.

A silly thing, I know but these Atlantians did have a tendency to take over at times. It was as if they felt that the universe was their personal playground to take or defend as they willed. Usually a gentle reminder was all that was needed to make them back down but I also knew that John had his eyes on De and I wasn't sure about that at all.

I shamelessly listened in on John's further conversations with Atlantis and learned that another Puddle Jumper had already been launched to meet up with our group and Dr. McKay was burning up the air demanding specimens of De's rocks and sand and pictures of all the circles and the boy too. McKay wanted De just as much as any of the other evidence and he wanted an immediate explanation from me of this hidden knowledge of the Athosian people.

I knew Rodney McKay and he had all the tact and grace of a buffalo in a vegetable garden but accusing the Athosians of hiding away secret, possibly lifesaving knowledge was a new low, even for Rodney. John was falling all over himself trying to keep me from being insulted. He cut Rodney's rant off without even a good bye and gave me his little boy smile, complete with dimples.

"I am so sorry, Teyla. Sometimes Rodney needs a muzzle. He can be a perfect idiot and be proud of it." John apologized.

"I understand, John." I said. "I even understand Rodney's point although I also have the urge to slap him up the side of the head with one of De's rocks. We would like to keep De for a little longer, however. Let us see what, if anything, we can learn from the boy before you turn him over to Rodney. I have a feeling that Dr. McKay is not going to be especially good with children."

"True enough," John replied. "Let's all get into the Jumper and I'll take you back to your village." He looked around at the devastation of De's village. Even here, far from the village proper, the Wraith had blasted the sea walls and fishing nets. This village was most likely a complete loss. I couldn't see much to salvage and I couldn't see other people wanting to perhaps move in and rebuild it. We would leave a burial crew behind for the bodies and this once happy fishing village would become a graveyard. De and Sam were all that was left of this place.

00O00

Loading John and Ronon and the rest of John's guards plus De and San in the Puddle Jumper should have only taken a few minutes. However prying De's fingers off the side of the door slowed the takeoff. God but the boy hated to fly. Once inside and strapped in De held on to San like they were both going to die if he let go.

It was only a matter of minutes when we returned to my village and this time we knew to hold on to De. He didn't try to run only because he didn't know where to go. Anamath, that good woman, met the Jumper. She took San out of De's arms and put out a hand for the boy to hold.

He was tired. It had been a long day for a little boy with lots of excitement and Anamath took him and his brother to a quiet, out of the way place to sleep in a hammock slung under the trees. Once asleep together the brothers looked lovely. De's long dark eyelashes rested against his creamy tan skin and his lips relaxed into an adorable pout. Asleep he was perfect.

John stood with me at the side of the Jumper watching the little boys sleep.

"He should get as much rest as possible, Teyla." John murmured. I'm already hearing from Dr. Weir. McKay is upset that we aren't immediately bringing the boy to Atlantis and he has taken his complaints to the leader of the Atlantis Expedition. I'll hold them off as long as I can but you might be seeing them sooner than you want."

"Thanks for your help, John." I replied. I'll try to spend what time I have with De wisely."

John nodded and said. "I'm going to stay here for a while, maybe even overnight. I don't particularly want to go back to Atlantis and listen to Rodney's whining."

I laughed since I knew Rodney and knew exactly what John was talking about. "Yes, stay with us. It will be dinner soon and if feels like it will be a pleasant evening. Take your time. Rodney is definitely no enticement to return to the City. "

Night was coming on and food was being prepared around the open fire. It smelled delicious. There was wild bird and berries and sweet smelling tubers. Suddenly De's head popped up over the edge of the hammock.

He shook San and the baby burbled; the first cranky sound I had heard the baby make. "Come on, San." I heard De say. "I'm hungry. Let's go eat." The little boy swing out of his sling then reached back for his San. It was the work of a moment and he was sitting close to the food and breathing deeply

Anamath appeared out of nowhere and gestured for De to give her the baby. She had some mashed food for the little one. De nodded his head and handed San over but stood to watch as he was fed. One of the cooks approached with a plate of food for De and he sat back down and went to work.

I watched the little boy steadily eat his way through two large plates of food. I found myself hoping that Anamath had fed them earlier in the day. It had never occurred to me that De might be hungry. He seemed like such a self-sufficient little boy.

Now it was fully night and people were disappearing into their homes. The fires were burning down and the stars were shining hard and bright overhead. I gave some thought into leaning up against John Shepard but decided it would be self-indulgent. The Atlantians already exercised too much influence on our world. I didn't need to start sleeping with the head of the military unit. That would definitely cause problems. I would be better off taking up with the Satedan

I watched as De's eating slowed and the little boy almost rocked with sleepiness. He stood and stretched and put out his arms for his sleeping baby brother. Anamath handed San over and the baby yawned and waved his hands, rubbing at his nose.

"Hush, San." I heard De say and then the little boy headed for his hammock. Putting San in first he looked around for someone to pick him up. Ronon appeared out of the dark and picked the little boy up and carefully deposited him beside the baby.

Ronon came over to the fire with John and me and sat down. "What do you think of our little warrior, John?" Ronon asked.

Just then I heard San cry for the first time. It was a tired baby cry and De hugged the baby and began to sing a soft, quiet song.

Some glad morning when this life is o'er

One day I'll fly away, leave this old world.

When my Lord comes again to this land

O haste away, the moments fly

This world of sorrow and care

The song was sweet and melodic but the worlds were in a language that seemed unfamiliar for some reason. It was like Earth speech but why would this little Athosian boy from a small fishing village sing such a song?

John Shepard flinched beside me and turn his head to hear better. "What the hell?" the man murmured.

There was once a time when in my heart I was condemned

When my Lord comes and calls for me

My race is nearly run, my work

Somewhere a-down life's valley

Troubles may fall like showers of rain

When I come to make the crossing

I'm only on a little visit

One day I'll fly away

"John," I said and put my hand on his arm. "Do you know that song? It's nothing I have ever heard before, have you?"

Shepard looked at me. "You're right. That song's familiar to me. It has no place on this world."

The little boy's soft voice continued

When some morning bright and fair

When my Lord redeems the very least

Some of these days I'm going yonder

At the sounding of the trumpet

I'm ready for the time

My work will soon be o'er

My race is nearly run, work here

I'm only on a little visit

One day I'll fly away

San had stopped crying and De stopped singing. It made me sad for some unknown reason that such a little boy knew such a song.


	4. Chapter 4 - Children's Stories

00O00

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 4**

**Children's Stories**

"_My body is but wax and wick for the flame. When the candle burns out, the light shines elsewhere"_

_From Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead_

Morning spread its warmth and people began to appear. Fires were re-lit and dough rolled to make thin pancake wrappers for left over stew and gravy from last night's food. Some headed for the ocean, some headed for the fresh water streams and some heated water for more civilized awakenings. Athosians loved the outdoors but sometimes comfort called.

I was amused to see De making arrangements to bathe his precious San in a shallow bowl of warm water. The baby sat entranced in his little tub, splashing and soaking his poor brother. Shepard appeared scratching his head and yawning. He had spent the night in the Puddle Jumper, as comfortable as any of us, I suspected. The village came alive and another day arrived.

John came to me later in the afternoon and said that he and the rest of the Atlantians and Ronon were returning to Atlantis and that he would stay in touch. Evidently he had fended off repeated requests from Dr. McKay to bring De back to the city with him.

"I explained to Rodney that you're the boy's guardian," Shepard told me. "Unless you agree De isn't going anywhere. Rodney started spouting all that 'for the sake of scientific enquiry' crap that he spews and I simply told him he would have to talk to you. Sorry Teyla."

I laughed. "It's alright, John. I can handle Rodney. If he pushes overly much I'll take my problem to Dr. Weir." I patted John on the arm. "Have a good trip back home. I expect to be over sometime in the next few weeks. For right now I have to settle some disputes and look into some trading agreements here. In my spare time I expect I'll be talking to our littlest Warrior about his unexpected skills myself. Tell Rodney I'll talk to him about anything I find."

"I certainly hope that will hold him back from coming over here himself." John replied. "He can be a very annoying visitor."

I stood and watched the Puddle Jumper take off and was somewhat surprised to turn and find De standing behind me with San in his arms.

"Where are they going?" he asked, staring at the Jumper with wide eyes.

"They are going home to the floating City of Atlantis." I told the little boy." I knelt down to look him in the eyes. "Why? Do you want to go with them?"

"Maybe." He surprised me. "Is it safe there? Would San be safe there?"

I gathered the boys into my side. "Yes it's safe there but you're safe here too. I like having you and San with me but you just tell me if you want to go to Atlantis. I go there a lot. Maybe you would like to visit with me next time I go?

De looked at me. ""You are very pretty. Is John your boyfriend?"

I laughed at my little charmer. I swear he was fluttering his eyelashes at me. "No, John is not my boyfriend. I don't have a regular boyfriend. Would you like to be my boyfriend?" I wondered if this unnaturally mature four year old boy knew exactly what he was asking.

"OK, I'll be your boyfriend but we have to keep San too," he said seriously.

"Oh absolutely; we would never go anywhere without San."

Dean nodded his head and hoisted San up further in his arms. "He's getting pretty big now. He keeps trying to stand up. I have to watch out for him all the time."

"Miss Teyla," he said. "I was wondering, could we put down the signs of protection around this place? I don't think it's safe for San here but I don't want to go back to my village where the other signs are. There's no one left there now."

I was surprised. I had been wondering how to broach the subject of De's signs but didn't want to scare him and here he was bringing it up himself.

"Certainly, De, I would very much like for you to do that for my village. I'll get people to help you and you just tell them what to do. Is that what you want?"

The little boy took my hand and pulled me along. "I'll show you where to bring the rocks. Come on. Let's do it now before the monsters came back."

"De, first we need to find your helpers. " I laughed, tugged along by my little whirlwind.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Over the course of the next week De and his little work crew, made up mostly of children and a couple of mothers, scraped out flat spots and set up De's protective circles around the village. As the circles took form more people became interested in the work being done by the children. The entire village had heard about the dead and captured Wraiths. Although doubtful, many were willing to take a chance and joined in the work.

De walked around the work areas, making corrections and adjustments along with his San who had finally learned to stand up but made a lot of soft landings on his butt. De always ran to comfort his brother when the toddler cried out. I thought that San cried out more in frustration than in pain but De responded no matter what the cause. San was standing and walking a little early but not unusually so for an Athosian child. He was also mimicking sounds but I was unsure if he really knew what those sounds meant. He had De and No down perfectly. Food and, oddly enough, bird were other words that he seemed to grasp.

De's helpers evidently included some one of an artistic bent; most likely one of the mothers. A lot of the stones they used came from the ocean and beaches. Many had lovely surface markings or were white or other colors and the circles were actually beautiful. I heard De tell someone that those were the best ones and I had no idea why that would be. De liked the pretty stones and I watched him show San the ones he liked the most.

On night I became aware of a disturbing aspect of the circles. I was wandering in the early evening among the trees in the moonlight when I heard a child's voice chanting,

I peeked through the screening tree branches and saw the little guy walking on a completed circle's outer rings as if they were pathways. San sat in the center of the Sign and watched his brother pace the circle. De chanted as he walked. I also noticed that something was dripping from his hand. When he finished, picked up San and went to his bed I followed. I found he had gashed the palm of his hand and what I had seen was Dean dripping his blood on the stones.

"De," I asked quietly trying not to wake San who had slipped into sleep as soon as De laid him down. "Why have you cut yourself like this? Doesn't it hurt?"

"Blood starts the stones," he told me seriously. "I need to protect San and my friends. I feed the circles my blood and they keep us all safe."

This set me back on my heels. Where had this small child learned of blood sacrifice? How had a little boy not yet five years old learned to trade his pain for protection for his brother and even strangers? I didn't know what to think but I decided that I was not going to tell Rodney McKay about this unless it became absolutely necessary. I also decided that De's family needed to be looked at. Could someone have trained this little one to do this?

"Who taught you this, De? How do you know to bleed on the stones?" I whispered and it was as if the night drew closer in. I turned my head and there was a feeling that the village had changed, had become a place somewhere else and I was the stranger, not De and San. They belonged.

De lowered is head and began to speak again in that older, darker voice that had chanted the Latin verse that had so surprised and shocked Rodney McKay.

"My brother and I were Kings in a Forest of Kings. We bled ourselves with the stingray spines to sprinkle our blood on the paper Our blood was the sacrifice that was burned to create the Wacah Chan, the Tree of the World."

De's childish voice was gone. This other deep, dark voice got all the way into my bones and held me still.

"The Tree joined the world of man to the world of the Gods. The trunk of the tree went through the Middleworld of man, the roots plunged to the nadir in the watery Underworld region of the Otherworld, Xibalba, and its branches soared to the zenith in the highest layer of the heavens."

"When our blood no longer caused the world to bloom we were then the Kingly sacrifices and our world ended. I lost San to the obsidian knife."

"The Lords of Death then took us both. We climbed Wacah Chan along the path of the Vison Serpent and left our city behind.

De appeared to be in a trance and his tears flowed. I put out my hand and he flinched away.

Then his eyes cleared and he again looked at me directly. He yawned and stretched and looked at his gashed hand in surprise.

He held the hand out to me. "I hurt me," he said. "Can you make it better?"

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

From that night on I kept track of the circle building. I let it be known that when a circle was completed I was to be told. I wanted to see Dean walk the circle again and see if I could possibly hear what he was chanting.

I never said anything to Rodney and John told me when he dropped by for Athosian produce for Atlantis that Rodney had been building circles like mad all over Atlantis then testing them on their captive Wrath.

John laughed. "Rodney might as well have tried to throw the guy out a dock and drown the poor creature for all the good the circles were doing. The Wraith walked through them like they weren't even there."

"John," I said. "There is something that we didn't know about De's circles. Rodney is never going to get any of his circles to work; he is missing an important piece."

"What is it?" John asked. "You know, if these things really work Elizabeth wants one built in front of the Stargate for protection not only against the Wraith but possibly against any Gou'ld that might try to make the trip."

"I know it can be important but I worry about how De will be treated." I told the Atlantian. "I even hesitate to tell you in view of your loyalties to Atlantis. The life and health of one small Athosian might not seem that important to you."

"Please, Teyla." John relied. "I am shocked that you would think that I would endanger the boy. He's, what, barely coming on to five years old? I can't imagine why I would want to hurt him,"

"If you promise to keep his secret until I say it's safe for others, especially Rodney, to know I'll show you the missing piece of the Sign of Protection tonight." I told the man. "You must swear to it. I know you are the military commander and as such you must have a sense of honor. Will you swear?" I asked in my most serious voice.

John matched my tone. "I swear I will not reveal anything I learn until I have your permission to do so."

"Fine, I believe you." I answered and crossed our arms in a symbolic Athosian gesture of agreement. "We will meet at my home at moonrise and I'll show you the missing piece of De's Sign."

In the early evening John and I made our way to that spot in the forest where we could clearly see the newest of De's completed circles. As the moon rose higher I heard the little boy coming. He was singing a sweet sounding song so I assumed once again he had San with him. So often De spun a cocoon of music around his brother and him and not one of his songs was Athosian. His songs seemed to speak of other lives and places unknown.

The two boys arrived and De knelt and placed San in the center of the circle I assumed he was going to activate. De stood on the outer circle and I saw the glint of a knife. John went to move forward when he saw the boy gash open his hand but I held the Atlantian back.

"No, let it be." I whispered. "Be quiet and watch."

De began his chant and started to move carefully trying to splash a drop of blood on each rock chanting all the while. Whatever the language it was not the Atlantian English that we knew so well. It was more fluid, almost liquid. I wondered if it was the Latin that Rodney had recognized before but I didn't know.

"What is he doing?" John whispered harshly.

I placed a finger on the man's lips and said quietly, "He calls it starting the circle. They won't work he says until he feeds the stones his blood."

John stood still and watched the child complete the circuit of the sign. Dean then went to San, wrapping a scrap of cloth around his bleeding hand.

San put out a pudgy finger and touched the cloth on his brother's hand. The blood was already soaking through and it frightened the baby. "De,' San called his brother name and started to cry.

"No, no, San," De said and tried to sooth the smaller boy.

"De," San cried out again and touched De's bloody bandage. "De, bird."

Dean sat in the dirt and pulled San into his lap and laughed. "Really, San? You want bird?"

Once again the baby said "De, bird, De." San patted his hand on his brother's chest.

I had no idea what was happening until De started to sing to his brother. San rested his head against his brother's shoulder and closed his eyes.

_Blackbird singing in the dead of night_

_Take these broken wings and learn to fly_

_All your life_

_You were only waiting for this moment to arise_

It was a strangely haunting song; a sad lullaby for the baby boy. They both seemed to take comfort in the music.

_Blackbird singing in the dead of night_

_Take these sunken eyes and learn to see_

_All your life_

_You were only waiting for this moment to be free._

Dean was now rocking his brother and singing with his eyes closed and his cheek resting on San's head. San put a thumb in his mouth and seemed to melt even closer into his brother.

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly.

Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly.

Into the light of the dark black night.

De took a deep breath and San fell asleep. His thumb fell out of his mouth. He was safe in his brother's arms.

_Blackbird singing in the dead of night_

_Take these broken wings and learn to fly_

_All your life_

_You were only waiting for this moment to arise_

_You were only waiting for this moment to arise._

_You were only waiting for this moment to arise._

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

**A/N** I wish to acknowledge the kind assistance of Winter Gray who acts as my editor and advisor and catches all my continuity errors.

I also would like to say thanks to ThejokerinaDeckof53 who advises me on all things Stargate Atlantis and who puts up with me even when I blatantly manipulate the Atlantis timeline for my own purposes.

The song Blackbird is from the Beatles' White Album and was initially recorded in June of 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney.


	5. Chapter 5 - Moving to Atlantis

00O00

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 5**

**Moving to Atlantis**

It had been almost a month since De and San had come to live with us. De had circles all around the village and had made smaller circles around the hut that the boys called their own. San was making great strides, sort of, in staying upright when he walked and was toddling all over the village with De in hot pursuit. San seemed to be able to give his brother the slip fairly often.

"He keeps getting out." De complained to me. "I don't know what to do about him. How can I keep him safe when every time I turn around he's gone?"

He had San in his arms and San was kicking and pushing, trying to make De put him down.

"De, he's growing up." I consoled the little boy. "He can't stay a baby forever. You shouldn't worry. Lots of people here in the village will keep track of him. No one wants San to get hurt."

"I don't like it." De huffed.

"I know you don't but that's the way that people grow. San will get to be his own person some time.

"What if he doesn't need me anymore?" Dean whispered.

"You don't need to worry about that. I'm sure your brother will always need you. You're his big brother and in time you'll become his hero. But De, you have to let him grow up."

De put San down on his feet and the baby wobbled a bit then grabbed De's hand to steady himself. De looked down at the toddler and San smiled up at his brother. There was a perfect moment of communication between the two and then San took off. He had spotted one of those big insects with iridescent wings on the other side of the fire circle and San was after it, giggling and waving his hands.

De followed but kept his hands tucked into his armpits, trying not to grab San back from exploring the world. San giggled and waved and reached back for De, pointing and making sure that his brother saw the pretty bug.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

It was late afternoon. The village drowsed in the heat. People sat in the shade of the trees, working on various projects like leather work and embroidery. The women were preparing for the evening meal, shucking the beans from the pods of the amborste plants.

The smaller children, De included, were gathered together learning the letters of the Athosian alphabet. A number of the older children were with Pekayan, a leather worker. He was teaching them how to make quivers for their arrows. It was a peaceful, quiet scene.

Then a frisson of warning skittered down my spine. I knew this feeling. I knew that the Wraith were near. I sounded the alarm and people dropped what they were doing and headed for their homes; for their homes inside De's circles. This would be our first test of the Signs of Protection.

There had not been a lot of warning and the Wraith Darts appeared out of nowhere, pulsing and jumping overhead. Here and there a beam weapon struck and dirt cascaded into the air. I kept an eye on those ships knowing they were most likely to pull villagers away. The unlucky ones would end up inside the ships, on their way to the Hive ship to be food for the Wraith and the Wraith Queen.

I was still trying to shepherd people along when I noticed that De was doing the same to the children from his class. He stood behind them and wouldn't let them stop moving, avoiding a beam weapon by the slightest of margins. I didn't see San.

Wraith soldiers appeared just outside of the village. People who had been under the trees scattered for safety but the Wraith seemed not to care. They appeared to be looking for something. Another thrill ran through my body when I realized these soldiers appeared to be focusing on De.

"De, run!" I shouted. "Hurry."

De looked over his shoulder and made a rush for his hut. I could see San now. The toddler had most likely been sleeping and the noise and screams had awakened him. He sat in the doorway and cried for his brother.

De slid between two of the outer circles on the side of the village and dove for his brother in the doorway. The Wraith solders pursued him. They were definitely after the little boy and focused on him, even to the exclusion of easy food. Too bad for them when they hit the edge of the village and De's circles took over. The solders walked straight into the traps and were suddenly imprisoned.

As I watched these creatures beating against invisible walls I called John Shepard.

"John, village is under attack." I breathed heavily. "They appear to be after De. If you want more test subjects now would be a good time to show up."

"We'll be right there," he snapped.

"John," I continued. Bring as many people as you can. There is a Dart ship on the ground. If you're fast you might be able to claim it."

I and the villagers stood on the other side of De's circles and stared at our ancient enemies. I glanced over at De and he was holding San on his lap as he crouched in the doorway.

Another Dart landed on the edge of the trees but only two Wraith got out. They ignored us and stood looking at their trapped soldiers. One pointed clearly at De and I moved into his line of sight to shield the little boys.

It didn't get any clearer than that. The Wraith knew about De. When they culled De's village they found out that they couldn't approach the boys without getting caught in the same traps that the two dead soldiers and the prisoner were in. De's hut had been surrounded by those circles. Our little Warrior now had a deadly enemy. The Wraith Queen wanted De.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The two Wraith leaders went back to their ship and lifted off. The solders they were leaving behind keened and cried and pounded against the invisible walls. The Wraith ships sent a couple of beam shots back at the village but they didn't appear to hit anything. As a matter of fact, they seemed to simply disappear. Then I head De's voice rising over the whining ship motors, the crash of weaponry and the cries of the abandoned soldiers.

He was once again singing to a cranky and crying San and the sad strains of the Blackbird song floated through the evening air.

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly.

Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly.

Into the light of the dark black night.

San's childish crying slowed and I saw the little one wrinkled his noise and yawn. When San appeared to be safely asleep Dean put him down and walked over to us. We were all staring at the Wraith. The soldiers only had eyes for De. They back up as far as they could get in the circle as De paced their prisons. He held out his hand in that gesture with fingers raised that had so bothered John Shepherd and started chanting.

_Adjuro te, serpens antique, per judicem vivorum et mortuorum, per factorem tuum, per factorem mundi, per cum,…._

As before, the longer the chant went on, the more the child's voice changed to that older, dark voice. As he chanted his right hand stayed in the same position but now his left began to clench into a fist.

_Qui habet potestatem mittendi te in gehennam, ut ab hoc famulo Dei N., qui , ab hac famula Dei N., quae…._

He raised the clenched fist and held it out toward the closest Wraith who froze while the rest of the creatures pushed their way to the furthest extreme of the circle. De began to twist his fist and the Wrath fell forward on its hands and knees. De tightened more and the Wraith began to choke. Blood began to leak from the creature's eyes and its hands clutched the grass and pulled out clumps.

I was shocked to see that the creature was trying to suck the vegetation into the feeding slits in its hands as if trying to sustain itself with a different type of life. It did not work. The grass hung raggedly from its hands and all around the rest of the grass turned grey.

I reached out to De when I realized he was killing the creature. When I laid a hand on his arm he hissed "Don't touch me!" I was shocked as something like a electrical change sizzled along my nerves.

"De, don't . You don't have to kill." I whispered. "I promise we will take care of them. You don't have to."

De then turned to look at me and I looked into the face of a child but something else was looking out at me. De was a mask for something far older and far less innocent than the child I knew.

"De, please stop." I tried again but De finished and the Wraith fell forward very obviously dead. Fluids leaked from the body and stained the earth. De moved forward to select another victim. If he had done this to the dead Wraith we found at his village, no wonder the Wraith were looking for him,

I stepped back and called Shepard again. "John?"

"Shepard here, what's up Teyla?" he responded instantly.

"John, how far out are you and what's the fastest you can arrive?"

"We should be there within three minutes and we are already going as fast as the ships are capable. What's gone wrong?"

"De has started to kill the Wraith." I sighed. "It's not a nice sight. It takes him some time to kill each one so most of them should still be alive when you get here but if you want test subjects for Rodney you'll have to take them from De."

Wraith Darts reappeared overhead and began their maniacal dance of pulsing and dashing. They started firing their beams at us and even at their own captured soldiers but were careful to avoid De. They obviously wanted the child alive. De stopped his killing of the Wraith with the death of a second soldier and turned his eyes skyward.

He understood that they were firing into the village and realized that they could possibly strike San. He stopped and ran.

Moments later the Puddle Jumpers arrived and the aerial battle was joined. This kind of danger and resistance the Wraith did not expect. These culling missions must be boring to the average Dart pilot. To get captured and then to be attacked in turn was a completely bizarre situation for them. That the herd animals might turn on their predators was unexpected.

The Darts turned tail and ran but not before John's people had brought two more down. The crashes were loud and violent and I prayed that the only victims were Wraith. Of course, if there had been humans aboard this would appear to be a better death than what their captors had planned.

John's ships began to land and I walked over to wait for the Atlantians to disembark. John stepped out of the first ship.

He looked around at the damage, the prisoners and the Dart waiting for him like a prize.

"So De's circles worked." He laughed. "That is going to annoy Rodney so much. His circles are just artwork. "

"John," I said seriously. "I need you to take De and San back to Atlantis with you. This wasn't a normal culling by the Wraith. They were sent here to look for De in particular. They ignored easy captures and focused only on the boy. We can't promise them safety here any longer and their presence endangers the village."

John smiled. "This trip is going to make Rodney's day. He not only gets new Wraith to experiment with, he gets a Dart to take apart and he gets De under his eye. He was beginning to not believe in the kid. He'll freak right out when I tell him how well De's Signs worked. As a matter of fact, why make him wait?"

John whipped out his recording device and began taking pictures of the captured and dead Wraith, the circles enclosing the village and of the circles surrounding the boys' hut, with De holding San in his lap in the doorway.

Finally John had his prisoners secured and the Dart manned. Then he approached De.

After some discussion John came away holding the sleeping San in his arms and leading De by one hand. As they approached I thought how funny it was to see De being treated like a small child for a change. Perhaps I should have allowed this exchange earlier but at the time tearing a small child from the only world he knew directly after losing both parents had seemed to be the right choice.

Finally all was assembled. Our people come forward and said good bye to De and San. When I approached De asked me to come inside the Jumper with him.

"What is it, De?" I asked and ran my hand over his head. "I can fix you so that you can start the stones." The little boy said seriously. "I know you've been watching me. You know what to do."

"Really?" I said. "How will you do that?" I looked around the cabin. "And what did John say that's going to get you back up in the air again?"

De answered. "He's going to let me drive."

I laughed out loud. "So bribery works?"

As I was laughing De grabbed my hand and slashed it with his little knife. I was so shocked that I didn't even feel the pain initially. Before I could get outraged I watched the little boy slash his own hand and press his slash to my freely bleeding wound.

"There are many things that can be passed through blood," he said. "One of those things can be power. You lead your people in both war and peace. You will be able to start the stones now."

Our hands separated and once again I received an unusual sensation from touching De. This time it was a warm buzzing in my blood. When he looked up at me I again caught sight of that shadow of a dark presence behind his eyes.

The little one said "Good bye Teyla. Come and see us soon. I don't think John is going to want to give us back."

Outside I watched the flight of Puddle Jumpers rise gracefully into the sky. It was always strange to see such awkwardly shaped constructions fly. It should not have been possible. I waved at the last ship. I knew it was John's ship and they only people on it were John, De and San. No one had thought it was a good idea to put De on a ship with Wraith prisoners.

I watched the ships until they disappeared over the ocean. My little warrior was off on the next stage of his journey.


	6. Chapter 6 - On Ocean Waves

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 6**

**On Ocean Waves**

De got to ride in the co-pilot's seat of John Shepard's Puddle Jumper. John had let De sit in the seat and noticed that the little boy relaxed when he could pretend that he was guiding the craft. De sat with his brother in his lap and murmured a constant string of soothing words to the baby.

"Look at all the water, San! We're flying right over the top of the ocean. See how fast we can go?"

John smiled. He was sure that De was justifying his words as soothing the baby but San was the calmer of the two. John was pretty sure the little Warrior was afraid of heights. San would reach up occasionally and pat his brother's face. Then the baby would push his fingers into De's mouth and De would suck the little one's pudgy digits.

They were good kids. They didn't run around or get into things that they shouldn't touch and there were no loud and annoying noises. There were only the three of them in the craft as no one thought it was a good idea to put De in a ship with any captive Wraith.

They flew over the water, the last of the formation of Jumpers. De continued his reassurances to his little brother. "See San, look at the ripples on the water. So pretty; sparkling and leaping in the air when we go by. "

John was actually enjoying De's descriptions. He had flown this trip a hundred times and De was allowing him to see it through innocent eyes. The Athosian world took on an alien gloss again. The sky was too blue, the waters too still and the clouds had touches of color not seen in earthly clouds. John realized he had lost his sense of wonder and little De was giving it back to him.

Finally Atlantis appeared on the horizon. The Ancient city rose from the waters. Towers soared into the sky at various heights, curving inward protectively. Twinkling lights glowed softly deep inside those towers.

Atlantis was a water creature. The small Athosian waves splashed the city's sides gilding the lower levels with the sun's light. That light was reflected back in beams that kissed the ripples in the waters. The whole scene danced in light, a living, breathing artifact of an ancient world long gone and lost.

One by one each Puddle Jumper disappeared diving smoothly into their docking bays as they were going home. John's Jumper had an unusual destination. He was to appear on the command platform with his precious cargo. Dr. Weir was taking no chances with these children. The captured Wraith were to disembark directly among the Marine guards and be escorted to their individual holding cells. San and De had a different escort waiting.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Shepard skillfully guided the Jumper on to the Command deck. Only when a Jumper was traveling through a Gate did the reason for the odd wingless shape of the vehicle become apparent. It fit through the ring of blue rippling light without an inch to spare. It was the maximum size for Gate travel.

As John delicately landed the ship and shut it down a crowd of people pushed to the back of the Jumper and waited for the cargo gate to open and the internal ramp to extend.

In the crowd were Elizabeth Weir, Rodney McKay, Dr. Carson Beckett and his nurse, Marie. There was a scattering of various crew men and women and, towering over them all, the tall, dark form of the Satedan, Ronon Dex.

John had watched De try to get San to cooperate before the landing. He pulled on the baby's long soft shirt and then bent to get the baby's feet covered. While De was concentrating on try to catch a flailing foot, San had pulled his shirt off again. De got Sam's feet covered then straightened up to find his brother's shirt missing. While poor De cast about looking for the garment San was busy toeing off his shoes. John couldn't help it. He started to laugh. Evidently the only person who could fluster De was his little brother.

John had turned his attention to the landing and gave up watching the brothers battle for dominance. Once safely down he flipped the switch to open the cargo bay and stood up to disembark. Only then did he notice that San had won the battle.

De was carrying the baby's shirt and shoes and San was proudly parading in just his diaper. De's only triumph was insisting on holding San's hand and even then little San was giving his older brother an argument. John shook his head and thanked his stars that he was not a father yet. It looked like a job that took a lot of training.

John stepped down the ramp and turned to watch the boys descend. He swore every woman and not a few of the men cooed at the sight of little San marching on his pudgy baby legs and waving his free arm to keep his balance. Dressed only in his bright white diaper he was the epitome of the adorable baby. Beside his little brother De stood guard, glaring at the assembled strangers.

Dr. Weir approached John. "So these are our little mystery children." she said. "I didn't quite realize how young they are. Rodney is not going to be pleased."

As if the mention of his name gave Rodney the right to interrupt the pair's conversation he rudely barked at John. "Are you sure about this? These babies are our little wonder workers? You must be joking."

"Rodney," John said "I give you De and San. De is the one who made the circles that worked during two different Wraith attacks." The last phrase was a mild dig at Rodney who had failed spectacularly at creating Signs of Protection on Atlantis.

The scientist huffed in disbelief. "Well, let's get them down to the lab and get to work." Dr. Weir placed a hand on Rodney's arm as the man went to step forward.

"Rodney," she said. "These are children, living beings. We don't own them and they are not lab animals for you to experiment with. The first thing that's going to happen is Dr. Beckett is taking them to the medical bay for a physical exam. After that then perhaps they'll come to visit you in the lab."

Rodney folded his arms and elevated his chin. "Dr. Weir, if there is something to be discovered here the fact that they are children is of no importance. A defense that stops a Wraith soldier dead is an important addition to our arsenal. I'll investigate this phenomenon to my own satisfaction."

Dr. Weir's lips thinned. "That attitude, Rodney, is exactly why you will not be in charge of these children" she snapped.

She turned to the rest of the group. "Dr. Beckett, Nurse Marie, please come take charge of the children. Dr. Beckett, I will expect the results of your examinations to be transmitted to my office just as soon as possible."

During the mild dispute no one was keeping an eye on the boys. De did not like Dr. Weir's tone and he grabbed San's hand firmly and dragged his little brother along. He made a dash for the only person he knew and trusted, Ronon Dex. In a quick moment the boys were behind the Satedan and De had an arm wrapped around the man's leg.

Dr. Weir laughed. "Really Ronon?"

The Satedan shrugged. "He seems to be somewhat firmly attached." He laughed back. "Perhaps I can convince De to accompany me to Dr. Beckett's medical bay."

Dr. Weir approached and made the mistake of squatting down to De's level. "Is Ronon your friend then, De?' she sing-songed, making what she thought were comforting noises. "Can you and San go with Ronon?"

De glared into her eyes and pouted. "The big man is our friend. Me and San won't go anywhere without him." De glared around at the assembled crew and his glare stopped dead on Rodney. "We go with Ronon unless he wants to go see that man. We're not going anywhere near him."

Rodney rolled his eyes and focused his own glare on Elizabeth Weir. "Just how am I supposed to work with that?"

Elizabeth was amused by the similarity of the glare from the five year old and the adult scientist. They most likely would not get along because they were the same emotional age. "Dr. Beckett" she finally said. "Do you think you might be able to negotiate some sort of crease fire here?"

The friendly Scotsman smiled and said. "I'll certainly try my very best." He turned to Ronon. "Can you and your friends come along to the lab now?" Dr. Beckett's voice was musical and non-threatening. De decided to give the doctor a test run. The little group trudged off down a corridor to the elevator to sick bay.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Dr. Beckett asked De to climb on to the examination table. De would not let the man help but turned to Ronon instead. Ronon was holding San in one arm. De raised his arms to be lifted up and Ronon plopped the little Warrior down on Dr. Beckett's table.

"You take care of my San." De looked at Ronon with round solemn eyes. "Don't let anything happen to him."

"Don't worry little man." Ronon answered. I'll keep him safe for you. Now pay attention to Dr. Beckett."

Carson Beckett was a kind man with a friendly, smiling face. He didn't have a lot of children to take care of on Atlantis although pregnancies were beginning to show up here and there. He delicately lifted De's face and smiled at the little man's grumpy expression.

"Marie," Carson said to his nurse "could you get De's temperature and other vitals?' The pretty Asian woman bustled forward and asked the little boy to lie down on the Ancient's diagnostic table. De could discern no threat from her and lay down quietly, fascinated by the twinkling lights and shiny metal fittings. As he relaxed Marie started to record various numbers from off the boards into a paper file.

Dr. Beckett had never lost his love of patient files even though everything was now double entered; once in the Atlantis computer data base and once in laborious long hand for his personal files. It wasn't that the Scotsman was a Luddite; he just liked the feel and smell of paper.

Beckett's specialty was genetics and he had created the ATA gene therapy procedure. He and john Shepard had the most advanced expressions of the natural ATA gene and everything on Atlantis wanted to dance and please the two men. With the therapy he created less gifted members of the crew were able to trigger Atlantis's various wonders also.

He was a kind and gentle man and De felt no threat. The only problem came up when Marie fastened De's arm down to the table to allow the Ancient's table to take samples of De's blood. De felt the little prick of pain and was not concerned for himself. It had been a small thing. But when Marie went to have Ronon lay San down in another table and proceeded to take samples of San's blood Ronon had to hold De down.

"Come on, De." the Satedan ordered the little Warrior. "They aren't going to hurt him. He'll be ok." Ronon held De down on his table. When San let out a little cry at the pinch De glared up at Ronon.

"You said they wouldn't hurt him. I trusted you."

"De, stop being a baby " the Satedan replied. "Grow up and behave. It's a small thing, San will have forgotten about it in a minute or two"

Ronon was proved right when Marie gave San a sugary treat for being so brave and such a good boy. De watched carefully and finally relaxed when San went back to giggling and waving his hands at the nurse.

There were various other diagnostic tests that the table performed without being too invasive and De actually dozed off for a while, safe and confident that Ronon and Marie would keep his San safe. It had been a tiring afternoon for the little boy and sleep crept over him before he even understood what was happening.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Dr. Beckett left his medical bay with his precious files in his hands and made his way to Dr. Weir's office. He tapped and she called out for him to enter. Inside the office the doctor sat down to give the promised report.

"Have you found anything interesting, Carson?" Elizabeth asked.

Dr. Beckett settled further into his chair.

"Yes, I have found some very odd things about these boys. He handed Dr. Weir a small slide and told her to magnify it up to full size on one of the plain white walls she routinely used as a screen. A picture very much like an X-ray was thrown up but much more detailed than an standard X-ray. It also appeared to have a three dimensional effect.

"What am I looking at, Carson?" she asked.

This is a picture of De's ribs." He replied. "Here, take this one, too" and handed her another small slide

She picked it up and then displayed the two slides side by side.

"That is a picture of the baby's ribs." Dr. Beckett said.

"What is it, Doctor?" Elizabeth asked. "It almost looks like the ribs are etched with scroll work or even letters of a language."

Dr. Beckett leaned back. "That's what I thought too. I have no idea what it could be. Whatever it is it appears to be progressive. De's marks are much more defined than San's. San's marks appear to just be starting. I need to contact Teyla on the main land and find out if this is some recognized Athosian bone deformity. Perhaps one of her village healers can give us some insight. In any event, until we find out just what it is I recommend that the children be confined to the medical bay or to private rooms."

Dr. Weir shook her head. "Rodney is going to go ballistic. He has been up here twice already this afternoon wanting to know when the children will be available."

Dr. Beckett snorted. "Leave my friend Rodney to me. If I tell him that there is a possible infectious problem of an unknown nature he'll run as far and as fast as he can. The man is a complete hypochondriac. He'll be after me to save him first before anyone else on the station."

Dr. Weir agreed. The entire station knew about Rodney's little quirks.

"You mentioned additional oddities about the boys, I believe, Doctor?"

Beckett leaned forward in his chair, almost as if he wanted to confide a secret. "There is something very strange about their blood also. De's blood is of a type that approximates a very rare but not unheard of human type. The baby's blood, however, is completely unclassifiable. It has hemoglobin and plasma and white corpuscles just like a normal human but there are other substances floating and intertwined with those normal cells."

Dr. Weir played with a pen on the desk top. "That sounds like a more dangerous possibility than the ribs. What do you think?"

"I'll know more when I talk to Teyla but for now access to the children should be limited to me and Ronon and Marie. So far no one has exhibited any ill effects from being around the boys. I just know that I don't want that baby to bite anyone or bleed on anyone either. Until I can run a more detailed analysis and identify the substance in San's blood they should be quarantined. More disturbing to me than anything else is that the ancient's diagnostic tools can't identify these substances either. If it is some kind of blood born pathogen I have very little hope of creating a cure."

Beckett stood up. "Oh, one more thing." He said. "Both boys have the strongest expression of the ATA gene that I have ever seen. It is even strong than Sheppard's or mine. The boys are mysteries from top to toe." He smiled at Dr. Weir and left to return to his little guests.


	7. Chapter 7 - In the Alien City

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 7**

**In the Alien City**

"_Not a perfect soul, I am perfecting. Not a human being, I am a human becoming"_

_Normand Ellis, Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead_

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

As Carson stepped out of Elizabeth's office he spotted Rodney coming down the hall. Rodney had that "I want what I want" look on his spoiled face and was stomping along. Carson stepped in front of his friend.

"Hi Rodney," Carson cheerfully greeted the grumpy scientist. "It's too bad about the kids. I was just reporting on their medical condition to Dr. Weir."

That stopped Rodney's forward progress cold. "What? Is there something wrong with them?"

Carson rubbed the back of his neck. "I've not seen anything like it here on the station before. Not even the ancient diagnostic machines can tell me what's running around in the little one's blood. The older one's got some kind of bone problem that looks like termites, if you can imagine that."

"Oh my God," Rodney gasped. "It is infectious? What are you doing to protect the rest of us? What should I do? I was within ten feet of them. Am I in danger?" Rodney babbled like a brook.

Carson slapped Rodney on the back. "Here now, man. Take a breath. Calm down. I've been with them all afternoon and I'm not sick."

Rodney slithered out from under Carson's hand and backed away. "You need to be more careful. You're a Doctor! Aren't you afraid you'll infect the rest of us? Keep away from me." Rodney turned and fled, outright fled, down the hallway.

Carson watched his friend run away and hide. He turned around and requested entrance to Dr. Weir's office again. At the chime Dr. Weir released the door and looked up at Dr. Beckett.

He stood in the door and smiled. "I thought you might like to know that the Rodney problem has been dealt with. I don't think he'll be bothering you for a while."

"Thank you very much, Doctor." She returned the smile. "Now I won't have to look both ways when I open my door."

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Down in the Medical Bay the boys had been getting bored but Marie figured out how to deal with that problem. She had large amounts of food delivered and De settled in on a cot with his brother. The two boys plowed through the food, San literally.

The baby had a spoon and a bowl of Jell-O but was having difficulty understanding the function of the spoon. De would lean over and shovel a spoonful into his brother's mouth when he could tear his attention away from his own food. Sam was using the spoon to great effect pounding the Jell-O into submission and splattering it all over himself, the cot and Dean. San also demonstrated early targeting skills in aiming spoonfuls of the shimmering orange Jell-O at Marie and Ronon if they dared to approach too closely.

De was eating everything he could reach and Sam was chortling happily when Dr. Beckett opened the door and was promptly smacked in the face with a spoonful of orange Jell-O. He yelled in surprise and the room got quiet. De looked up from his tray and promptly wrestled San's impromptu sling shot out of the baby's hand.

"Sorry about that," De said and tried to clean up his brother. Marie handed Dr. Beckett a damp towel and the adults were firmly back in charge of the zoo.

A tone sounded and a call came in from Dr. Weir. "Dr. Beckett, I have found rooms for the children just down the hallway from the medical bay. I hope I can find someone to move in with them. I don't know what you said to Rodney but you know the man cannot keep anything to himself. It's now all over the station that the boys have some kind of dreadful dangerous disease. That's not going to make finding a caretaker any easier."

Marie spoke up. "Dr. Weir, this is Marie. I wouldn't mind moving in with them. I have been waiting for a space to open up closer to the Medical Bay. Right now I'm almost on the opposite side of the station. It would be nice to be close to my work."

"I will also be glad to escort the boys when Marie is working." Ronon said. "I was always very fond of my little brothers and now that they are gone I find that I would like to try to take care of these two. I think that De is on the verge of being ready to train in Satedan fighting techniques, something I had long planned to teach my younger brother. De's almost the right age or will be in not that long. He can at least begin the exercises."

"Well, thank you both very much. That will be very helpful. Now I only have to figure out how to get them both educated." I think I might have a little time to plan for that. Dr. Beckett, how long do you think we can use the sickness rumor to our advantage?"

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Dr. Beckett managed to keep the boys safely stowed away from Rodney and the lab for close to six weeks. Finally he had to admit that whatever the children had it did not appear to be infectious. He had a long talk with Teyla and some of her healers which resulted in John Shepard making a run over to the mainland to pick up the Healers and Teyla. After examining the boys the Athosians agreed that whatever the boys had it was not common among the Athosian people and they were as mystified as Dr. Beckett. Beckett had some tissue samples and blood shipped off to Earth on an outgoing wormhole along with a strong warning about possibly unknown pathogens. He had to get Jack O'Neill's permission to ship the samples to Earth.

Dean continued to care for his brother and Marie was pleased with the new arrangement. She saw to it that the boys had breakfast and dinner and put them to bed at night. Late at night she would hear De singing the Blackbird song to a cranky San.

_Blackbird singing in the dead of night_

_Take these broken wings and learn to fly_

_All your life_

_You were only waiting for this moment to arise_

The haunting melody seemed to sooth San back to sleep like magic and Marie found herself humming the song to various restless patients, especially the young. She associated the melody with peace and comfort.

She felt that she was the winner in the arrangement as the apartments allocated to them were much larger than the one she had been living in alone. During the day the boys would follow Ronon around or play with the toys in their room. De was fascinated by the mechanical and electronic toys and games pleased him no end. It was a little surprising when San showed gaming talent even before he was speaking in whole sentences and so they all carried on from day to day.

Dr. Beckett observed his little patients and continued to try and quantify the data he had received. De's rib decorations remained a complete mystery and the fact that they were appearing even more clearly on San's ribs also seemed to indicate that whatever the cause it was not life threatening. It certainly didn't stunt anyone's growth. The boys were bigger every day and San was progressing at a surprising rate. Not having any long term studies on the Athosians' children norms Dr. Beckett started to study the alien race more closely. He made friends with one of the original healers that had come over to examine De and San and the two men, from different worlds, become good friends and colleagues.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Ronon had begun to make a habit of walking the long, empty corridors of Atlantis far from the command center with his little charges. He would carry San and let De skitter around the alien hallways, investigating anything he found interesting. Ronin's attitude was to let the boy explore. If something hurt him he will have learned caution. It was the Satedan way; the throw them in the deep end of the pool, they'll either learn to swim or drown school of thought. De vaguely thought that someone, somewhere lost in time, had taught him the same kind of lesson once.

They were exploring new ground today. De didn't remember ever seeing this particular corridor before. Ronon stopped at a sliding metal door and pushed it open. On the other side was a shallow shelf and beyond that, the ocean.

De looked out over Athos' sea; rippling waves reminded him of his home beside the water. Sea birds wheeled overhead, scanning the water for shallow swimming fish and keening their high, piercing cries. An ocean wind blew sweetly in his face, bringing back memories of this father standing on the shore at home, showing him how to throw a net. That was before the screaming ships fell out of the sky and took his father away.

De panicked. There was no way here to protect himself or his little brother. He anxiously pulled at the Satedan's leg. "We need to be protected. There are no Signs here. Come on."

"Hey, little man," Ronon looked down at the boy. "Take it easy. I'll protect you." The Satedan had San in his arms and De tried to drag the big man back inside Atlantis. Ronon saw the panic in De's eyes and stepped back into the corridor.

"Hey De," he said, petting the little boy's head. "I wanted to go swimming. How can we fix this for you?"

De looked into the Satedan's eyes. "I can make Signs with paint. Don't need rocks and sand here. Can you get me paint? I have to put stuff in the paint but I can do it, if you help,"

They went back to the children's rooms and De and Ronon had a long conversation about what the child needed to make Signs of Protection on the metal floors of Atlantis. Ronon visited one of his human friends in the Maintenance crew and over the course of a week various Signs of Protection began to appear at doorways on Atlantis.

They finally got to go swimming in the warm sea. Both boys were natural swimmers and Ronon played and splashed with his substitute little brothers under the Athosian sun. Marie mentioned to Dr. Beckett that her charges seemed to be flourishing under Ronon's care. They were brown as nuts and De's hair was sun bleached. They looked healthy and strong and San continued to grow at a remarkable rate.

During their six weeks of 'quarantine' De turned six and San turned two. San began to string words together into complete thoughts and De was becoming more and more reserved, watching silently over his brother.

As was inevitable, crew members began to notice the painted Signs appearing in the corridors. One morning John Sheppard was alerted to the mysterious appearance of Signs of Protection and odd markings on the walls of the hallway leading to the cells where the captured Wraiths were held.

John was the only person who had seen De's signs of Protection actually working on the mainland and as a test he had one of the Wrath prisoners walked through a painted Sign. When the Wraith soldier could not move off the Sign John immediately called Rodney McKay and Dr. Weir to come observe the phenomena.

Dr. Weir was intrigued and Dr. McKay was infuriated. None of Rodney's Signs had worked and here was a Sign made out of paint that was working very well indeed. Dr. Weir immediately agreed that De needed to be brought to Rodney's lab to explain his successful Sign and to teach other people how to make them. One little boy was not going to be able to put Signs of Protection everywhere they were needed. Even John Sheppard agreed that Rodney and his scientists need to be involved.

Finally De and San appeared in Rodney's doorway with Ronon behind them. De would not allow San to be in the same room with Rodney without the Satedan present. Right from the beginning Rodney got on the wrong side of the little Warrior.

"Alright kid, show me what you do to make your Signs of Protection work." Rodney barked at the little boy. As De backed into Ronon's legs Rodney started the lab camera running. Ronon pushed De forward. "Go on, De." Ronon said. "Show the man what you showed me and Murphy."

Rodney looked up at Ronon, taking his eyes off De for the first time. "What does Murphy the janitor have to do with this?"

Ronon huffed at Rodney's sneering attitude. "De told him what to do and Murphy mixed the paint and painted the signs. Murphy also went back after the Signs dried and sealed them so they can't be scuffed off."

"So you're trying to tell me that a little boy and a janitor did what me and my trained scientists weren't able to accomplish?" Rodney was outraged again.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Ronon responded. "And if you would shut up De will tell you what you did wrong. Do you want these Signs or not? "

The men's raised voices frighten San and he hid behind Ronon. This entire meeting wasn't going very well. Both De and San were not liking Rodney and his loud voice at all.

Finally De stood forward and shook his finger at Rodney. "You be quiet, you're scaring San. Don't scare San. It's a bad idea. I'll tell you what you want to know but you have to stop yelling."

John Sheppard and Dr. Weir appeared behind Ronon and they pushed their way into the room. "Rodney," Dr. Weir said "You need to stop yelling at the kids. Sit down and hold your water. Are the cameras running?"

Rodney sat down at his desk and folded his arms. He decided, childishly, if no one wanted to hear what he had to say he wouldn't talk at all. He nodded yes at Dr. Weir's question then focused back on the child.

Ronon produced the case that he had started calling in his head De's Bag of Tricks. The Satedan placed the case in front of De and put down a quart of dark royal blue paint and opened it for the little boy.

De took a steep sided chalice from the case and filled it half way up with the paint all the while murmuring in that dark, adult voice that only came when De was in trance:

_Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. __It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. __Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. __It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres._

De then took a pinch of herbs from a pouch and sprinkled the dust into the paint...From another pocket in the case he took a shining silver knife and gashed his palm. The blood flowed into the paint and disappeared. He stirred the paint with the silver knife. The paint was repelled from the blade and flowed back into the chalice.

De lifted the chalice and handed it to Ronon. "It is ready now." The child murmured. "Find a protector to paint the symbols." He looked around at the surrounding adults then stepped forward to John Sheppard. "You are one who protects. Your can draw the Sign of Protection and it will work."

With a howl of outrage Rodney sprang to his feet. "What the hell was that? Blood, you added blood to the paint? That was what was missing? Well, I can fix that."

Ignoring all the other aspects of what he had just seen Rodney focused only on what he could understand; on the only thing that fit into his world view, a missing ingredient. He pulled open a cabinet door and grabbed a needle designed to draw fluid samples and stalked towards the child.

Ronon pushed De behind him. "Stop McKay." The Satedan growled. "You will not touch the child." John Sheppard reached out to stop Rodney. Dr. Beckett appeared in the doorway and added his voice also.

"Rodney, stop." Carson yelled. "Are you out of your mind?"

Unnoticed little San stepped forward and raised his hand against Rodney. "No, stop!." The toddler cried. "Leave De alone."

Explosively the needle was jerked out of Rodney's hand and driven into the wall behind the desk. San screamed, grabbed his head and fell to his knees, blood pouring from his nose.

De rushed forward and held San in his arms, rocking the child. "No, San. Don't. Please stop." De kissed the top of his brother's head and glared at the assembled adults.

.

.


	8. Chapter 8 - Earth Calls

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 8**

**Earth Calls**

De sat on the floor with his little brother in his arms. Dr. Beckett knelt beside the children, a clean white cloth in this hand.

"Come on, De." He said, trying to place a gentle hand on De's head. "Let me help San."

De knocked the doctor's hand away.

"Leave us alone. I take care of San." De shouted. John Shepard moved swiftly to Rodney and pushed the scientist away from the boys, back against his own desk.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Shepard hissed at McKay. The pilot pulled the needle out of the wall. "What did you think you were going to do with this?"

Rodney tried to regain some dignity. "If his blood will save our people then we should take it." He shouted.

Dr. Weir raised a hand. "Enough," she ordered. "Dr. Beckett, Ronon, do you think you can get the children to go with you? Take them to the Medical Bay."

De would not let go of San but he did take the clean cloth from the doctor and used it to block the blood flowing down San's face. Ronon moved forward. "Come with me De. Do you want me to carry San?"

"No, I've got him." De replied helping the baby up and holding an arm around little San. Ronon, the doctor and the children left Rodney's lab. Ronon picked up De's case on his way out after tossing a hostile glance at Rodney.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Once again the boys are under lock down. More of the Atlantis personnel tip toe around the children and they stay in their rooms to avoid the stares and whispers. De takes San on the walks that Ronon used to share with them and they routinely go to the narrow shelf looking out over the placid ocean. Swimming becomes a big part of their day.

Ronon doesn't come as often as he did at one time and De heard whispers of battles and clashes with the Wraith on planets far away. De becomes adept at information gathering, lurking in hallways and around corners on Atlantis. Only Marie notices when he is gone. He becomes more and more withdrawn, talking only to San and keeping to himself. Marie no longer hears the Blackbird song in the night.

Dr. Beckett takes Ronon's place and De routinely mixes paint for the doctor to deliver to John Shepard. After the incident with Rodney the tape is played over and over by Dr. Weir and her staff. Rodney is excluded from these meetings as he has become more an irritation than a help. Dr. Zelenka stands in for the scientific crew. A gentle, open minded man, Zelenka listens and sees what is actually in front of him instead of what he wants to see.

De had named John Shepard as a protector and, after gentle prodding by Dr. Beckett, he names Teyla and Ronon as protectors also. Between these three protectors working Signs of Protection and the wall sigils that De had created begin to appear everywhere.

Atlantis's corridors and doorways begin to look as if a mad graffiti artist with an obsession has marked everything. De tells Dr. Becket that paint color does not matter and garish shades of blue, red, yellows and even purple appear. The world of magic is beginning to infiltrate the worlds of Atlantis science and Rodney McKay is heading for a breakdown. He is still convinced that if only he could get the paint proportions correct the chants and naming of Protectors wouldn't matter. His Signs never work and Dr. Weir assigns him to other work more suited to his mind set. Dr. Zelenka becomes the leader of the Signs of Protection project.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Months go by and De and San are isolated and more or less forgotten. As long as the painted Signs work De is nothing more than a paint supply cupboard. He has deflected the questions away from San. De by himself is enough of a mystery for the inhabitants of Atlantis. The attacks of the Wraith have grown more and more intense with almost daily skirmishes either in the skies above Atlantis or on the ground on the main land.

Teyla, who can pick up psychic clues from the Wraith, says that the monsters are hunting for De and San. Villagers who are captured by the Wraith and have been freed by military forays from Atlantis speak of interrogations. The Wraith and even the Queen herself have asked over and over about De's Signs of Protection. Who draws them? Where did the knowledge come from? Why do they work?

The Wraith know even less than the villagers. Unless it is a villager from Teyla's group, the villagers know nothing at all about the magic symbols. Teyla wants the boys locked away on Atlantis, hidden and protected. De and San want to go home; they want the open sky and the shady forests. They want to play with other children but all they get are empty metal hallways and a teacher who comes in every day to show them how to read and write. The man, a gentle soul, teaches them of Earth and the animals there.

De and San spend time looking at the children's books of Earth animals. They love the elephants, the tigers and the great bison. Time passes. The battles go on. Buried deep in Atlantis in the empty corridors the boys turned the page on another set of birthdays. Now seven and three they become like small ghosts on Atlantis, often mentioned but rarely seen.

One day Ronon reappears. He has been wounded in battle and is now resting on orders of Dr. Weir. Ronon is too valuable to the military on Atlantis to be abused. If the Satedan needs to rest, John Shepard will see to it. Dr. Beckett gets a battlefield commission and becomes Ronon's commanding officer, something that amuses both the doctor and the Satedan.

De and San welcome Ronon back with open arms. They had missed their friend and Ronon is sad to see how much he has missed in his little brother's lives. San is walking, talking and, thank God, toilet trained. De is beginning to lose his baby fat and a pugnacious jaw and stubborn set to his mouth foreshadows his teenage face.

They start the Satedan Warrior exercises and De throws himself into them with joy. He goes from bored and anxious to exhausted and ready for his bed every night.

Then, one day, the unthinkable happens. A Goa'uld from the Earth system manages to infiltrate SG-1 while the wormhole is open to Atlantis. The creature flees through the Colorado Mountain, always a step ahead of his pursuers. He bursts into the Gate control room and slugs the gate operator, beating him viciously until the man falls unconscious. Fleeing the armed soldiers the Goa'uld possessed man throws himself into the cool ripples of the Stargate is ends up on the floor of the Command deck on Atlantis.

The sudden arrival of an unexpected visitor sends the entire Command floor into shock. After just a moment however, the most shocked being on the floor was the Goa'uld. He had fallen directly into one of De's Signs of Protection. A large Sign had been painted directly in front of the Gate as protection against attempted boarding by the Wraith and now they have a glowing eyed Goa'uld standing in front of them, attempting to use his pain inducing wristlet on the assembled humans.

The Goa'uld curses the slaves, as he sees them and flings himself from side to side, completely unable to break free. Growling in that awful resonating Goa'uld voice he orders them to release him but the humans simply gather around, looking at him like a zoo exhibit. At the same time Dr. Weir is attempting to connect with Jack O'Neill through the still open gate to tell him about the unexpected visitor and find out what Jack wants done.

Ronon and the boys are nearby in a corridor practicing some Satedan exercises when all the noise and the strange shouting voice attract their attention. Ronon extends a hand to each little boy and escorts them to the command deck to find out what is going on.

San and De both have an immediate reaction to the Goa'uld. De hisses and calls the man a demon. San throws out his little hands and pushes the man away from the edge of the Sign. The Goa'uld doesn't like the children either. He glares at them and hisses back. The obvious tension draws everyone's attention and Ronon kneels down to talk to his little brothers.

"What is it, De?" Ronon asks and De responds, "It is a demon possessing a human. "Ronon waves over Dr. Weir and John Shepard to listen to what De has to say.

Ronon goes on. "De it isn't a demon. It's something called a Goa'uld. There is a parasite, like a snake, inside the man and it has been there for hundreds of years. The man can't help it. The Goa'uld controls everything the man does."

De crossed his arms. "It possesses him. It's like a demon." Little San comes to stand beside his brother. The smaller boy is obviously afraid and takes hold of both De and Ronon's hands.

De sticks out that pugnacious jaw. He looks down at his little brother, so definitely frightened. "It's all right, San. We can make it stop. Do you want to help me?" The seven year old moves forward, taking San and Ronon with him until he is only a few feet in front of the Goa'uld.

"Ronon," De says. "I'm going to make the snake come out of the man. Please get a real strong box to put the snake in for me."

Behind the child John Shepard laughs. "What are you going to do, De?" he says.

"Me and San are going to get the snake out." De responds with a serious face. "Don't you want it out?"

"Kid, if you can do that I will be amazed." John responds and Dr. Weir placed a hand on John's arm to silence him. She still holds the microphone connecting her to SG-1 in her other hand.

Sinking down on her knees she stares into De's eyes. "Are you sure you can do this De?" she asks quietly. She has seen too much of what these little boys can do to dismiss them out of hand.

"Of course, I can." De answers back. "As long as I can get San to help I can do it."

San looks up at his big brother when he hears his name. "What to do, De?" he asks and puts a finger in his mouth to help him concentrate. De is asking him to help him and San wants to do whatever his brother needs.

Ronon returns to the boys with an empty metal tool box. The box has a clasp for a padlock and is very strong. "Will this box do, De?" Ronon asks and De nods yes. "What next?" the Satedan asks.

"Take San to the other side of the circle and keep him there. Be ready to catch the snake when it comes out."

De is quite serious but there is muttering among the crowd of people standing around and the Goa'uld is pacing out the circumference of his prison, pushing at the invisible walls and shouting. The shouting scares San and he looks to his brother for comfort.

"Don't be afraid, San." De says and passes his hand though San's long hair. "You go with Ronon and push the bad man to me when I start. OK?"

"OK, De." The little one says and transfers his hand into Ronon's keeping.

Finally all appears to be ready and even though some crewmen object to this whole idea Dr. Weir is determined to give De a chance to prove his words.

For the first time in a very long time De drops his head and the dark, older voice comes out of the little boy's mouth. It is a mere murmur at first and De closes his eyes. Holding his hand out at the Goa'uld with three fingers raised and his thumb and forefinger completing a circle, De begins a chant. On the other side San also drops his head and holds out both hands, palms forward.

The words spin out into the air, dark and powerful and in a voice that has no business coming from a child's mouth:

_Omnipotens Domine, Verbum die Patris, Christe Jesu, Deus et Dominus universae creaturae; qui sanctis Apostolis tuis dedisti potestatem calcandi super serpentes et scorpiones: qui inter cetera…._

As the chant mounts in volume the Goa'uld chokes and clutches at his throat. First he falls to his knees and begins gasping for breath. As the chant continues he begins to choke and is in definite pain. Falling to his side the man's throat begins to shake and spasm.

_." …mirabilium tuorum praecepta dignarus es dicere: Daemones effugate : cujus virtute motus tamquam fulgur de caelo satanas cecidit: tuum sanctum nomen cum timore et tremor suppliciter deprecor, …."_

With a desperate gasp the man begins to expel a mucus coated white snake from his mouth. The foot long slug like beast lies on the floor for a moment as the man is gasping for air. Quick as thought the snake curls and springs, leaping straight at De but smashes into the invisible barrier that the Sign of Protection has erected between the boy and the creature.

"Now, Ronon," De cries still with his older dark voice. "Catch it now but be careful. It will try to possess you through your mouth."

San is standing rigid as a statue with his hands still pushing. Ronon come around the circle and when the snake tries to leap at the Satedan, he catches the slimy thing in the box and slams the lid. The snake slams from side to side, amazingly strong but there is no escape.

The man in the circle sits up and looks at all the people around him, free for the first time in an unknown number of years. He speaks and holds out his hands but no one knows his language. Dr. Beckett comes forward with a blanket and wraps it tenderly around the man, seeing signs of impending shock. He then leads the man away.

Ronon sat on the box. "Someone find a lock for this damn thing," he shouts. "It's shaking the lid."

As if Ronon's voice releases them both De and San relax. Little San drops his arms and runs straight across the Sign into his brother's arms. "We did good, right De?" the little boy says and wraps his arms around his brother's waist.

Through the entire episode Dr. Weir has been speaking to Jack O'Neill on earth.


	9. Chapter 9 - An Old Friend

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 9**

**An Old Friend**

Ronon was sitting on the tool box prison of the expelled Goa'uld and the snake was pissed. The body of the alien parasite was pretty much one long muscle and as long as the creature had energy it was a powerful and dangerous animal. In their own bodies they had very weak senses, poor to non-existent eyesight, hearing was minimal and taste was a fairy tale. Because the human bodies excelled in all the senses and were damn good at sex too, the Goa'uld craved human hosts.

The trapped Goa'uld was banging around in the box and even Ronon was being rocked. In a few minutes however Ronon's friend Murphy from the maintenance crew appeared with a padlock.

The members of the Atlantis crew were either watching Ronon or staring at the little boys. Sandow and Doathan sat on the floor, San in De's arms and stared up at the adults circling them at a distance. With Ronon guarding the Goa'uld they were alone and frightened. De rocked San and held the little one's face to his chest, hiding him from the unfriendly stares.

When Murphy got the lock on the Goa'uld's prison Ronon returned to the children and gathered them up in his arms. Striding through the muttering crowd he took them away, back to their room. In the corridor Marie, who had been sent by Dr. Beckett intercepted the little group and stayed with them. De, however, would not let go of San.

Dr. Weir was still talking to Jack O'Neill, describing the action as it took place. When she said that the Goa'uld was trapped O'Neill ordered her to secure the Goa'uld and he would have a team made up to visit Atlantis and take possession of the creature. He also wanted De and San but Dr. Weir explained that their official guardian was Teyla, the leader of the Athosians and that they would have to get permission from her to send the boys.

After much grumbling O'Neill backed down. They decided to close the Stargate and Jack would send a recovery team as soon as possible. He also wanted reports from witnesses and pictures of De's Signs of Protection. If he couldn't have the boys he would at least get something for Home World Command to look at.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Back in their rooms the boys slowly settled down. The rush from the exorcism drained away and they were both very tired. Little San dozed off in his brother's arms as De sat on his bed, back against the headboard. Once again Marie heard the Blackbird song drifting through the apartment as she stood in the kitchen area looking for something to cook. It was amazing how that song could sooth all who heard it. Even De closed his eyes and came very close to drifting away himself.

Finally silence prevailed and Marie decided to wait until the boys woke by themselves. Whatever they had done in front of the Stargate appeared to have drained their energy completely.

Ronon sat and started to take his gun apart for cleaning when the door chimed. It opened to reveal Dr. Weir, Dr. Zelenka and, surprisingly Dr. McKay. Ronon immediately rose and placed himself defensively in front of the boys but Dr. Weir put up her hand and whispered. "It's alright, Ronon. No one is going to touch them."

In a few moments John Shepard also appeared. Sitting around the table Dr. Weir explained why they were there. Jack O'Neill was sending a recovering team for the trapped Goa'uld. Evidently the Tok'ra were well aware of the Goa'uld's identity. He was considered a mass murderer by the rebel group and they wanted to interrogate him. In addition an intergalactic kerfuffle was building up over the removal of the Goa'uld from his host. SG-1, Home World Command and the Tok'ra all wanted details on how this was accomplished as it had been a goal of all three organizations for a long time.

The Tau'ri want the human hosts returned, the Tok'ra wanted the Goa'uld turned over to them and the Military wanted to take advantage of the expulsion of the Goa'uld from their hosts as a weapon. All of these conflicting purposes were butting heads on Dr. Weir's desk. Jack O'Neill, Dr. Weir's commanding officer was insisting that she find a way to get De and San to earth.

"The only way I can do what Jack wants is to get Teyla to agree for the children to visit Earth," she said. "I have talked to her and John is going to go and bring her back here. She wants to talk to De and she may also insist that she and perhaps Ronon accompany the boys."

"Currently Dr. Zelenka and Dr. McKay are writing a report for Stargate Command. We'll send that to Jack immediately and wait for Teyla's decision about the boys"

All the conversation finally woke Doathan from his light nap. Finding Rodney McKay in his room immediately put De on alert. Ronon came over to the bed and squatted down. "It's OK De. Rodney's not going to hurt you. I won't let him near you or San. Do you trust me?" He placed a hand on De's head and rubbed the spiky bristles into a swirling mess.

De sniffed in annoyance and pushed Ronon's hand away. That movement woke little San who yawned and stretch then tensed as he spotted the man who had tried to hurt De. The little one struggled to get a hand free but De enclosed him in his arms. "No, San. It's OK. Ronon says he won't let anyone hurt us. Just stay still."

San curled into his brother's arms again but never took his eyes off Rodney, just in case.

Dr. Weir stood up. "De, we all came down here to talk to you and Ronon. No one is going to hurt you but we do have some questions we need answered to do a report. Now that you've seen that we aren't going to try to hurt you or your brother would you came to my office with Ronon? Teyla might be there soon. Do you want to see Teyla?"

De laughed. "As long as you keep that man away from us" he pointed at Rodney, "we'll go wherever Ronon says it's safe for San and me."

Rodney almost looked like he was going to say something but a glance from Dr. Weir was enough. Nothing came out.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

SG-1 and the rest of the military installation under the mountain in Colorado had no idea they were under observation. The humans' reach had spread to the stars. Other races, such the Asgard, the Nox and other branches of relocated humanity all came and went through the gate and were welcomed or fought, as suited their governments however Earth's own aliens were unknown.

Decades previously Heaven's rebellion had been put down, order restored and the hierarchy once again returned to the contemplation of the infinite. The restoration of the Heavenly spheres sent the music of the choirs throughout the universe once again.

Here and there were some tattered individuals who had been so deeply wounded in battle that it would take centuries, perhaps even eons, for them to heal. One such damaged soldier was the Angel Castiel. He had risen to the highest choir and fallen to Earth bereft and lost. In the end his sacrifice had restored Heaven but when the Winchesters died he suffered his deepest wound.

Now he was silent again, a watcher. Alone, he suffered even more since he had known friendship, had felt love and kindness and had it all ripped away. He became the silent monitor of the Stargate, charged with the duty of reporting but never allowed to interfere. Over the decades of silence his heart began to wither. He hoped in time to unlearn the emotions the Winchesters had taught him so that he could stand and watch again without grief.

One day he saw something he recognized come through the gate. Along with a captured Goa'uld without a host came papers and photographs. Standing behind the gate operator, Chuck, Castiel caught sight of pictures of sigils drawn on walls They were Enochian sigils and were completely unexpected.

The last time these symbols had been disclosed to humans had been during the Heavenly battle and now the sight of them was enough to shock Castiel into an almost human reaction. Gathering himself together he debated if this was worth an immediate report to the garrison command or if he should wait for more information. Being an Angel, of course, he elected to wait. He could wait centuries if necessary.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Although the seasons meant almost nothing to the Angel he knew it was spring. The world was turning back to the sun and the ground was warm again. The snows had melted and new growth was evident. At one time this early rebirth would have been reason for celebration but now it was simply the turning of another year. Castiel stood silent, as always, at his usual post and watched the parade of beings traveling through the gate.

A singular group arrived unlike any of the diplomatic or military visitors. They were led by a tall, well-armed dark man with masses of hair followed by a beautiful woman who moved like a wild animal but radiated calm and peace. He was wary and on alert for danger. She was just as alert but relaxed. Behind them came another woman holding the hands of two small boys.

A shock ran through Castiel's being. The two little boys had turned and looked at him. He knew it was not possible. Humans could not pierce his veil. He almost stepped forward with his hand out stretched.

The older of the children, he was perhaps eight years old, had turned and smiled at the Angel and for just a moment a flare of recognition sparked in the child's bright green eyes. The smaller child looked up first at his companion and then also glanced toward the Angel's hidden position. With small secret smiles the children followed their companions down the ramp and were lead away. For just a moment Castiel also felt a sensation of recognition although he could not think why he should feel anything at all.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

De and San were taken to guest quarters and settled in. Marie wrapped her charges under the covers and said, "It's been a long day. You two should sleep now. Tomorrow you will have a busy day. The people here want to know all about the Signs of Protection and about how you made the snake come out of the man." She ran her hand lightly down San's downy cheek and leaned over to kiss the little boy's forehead. De giggled and pulled the covers over his head.

"Don't you worry, Mr. Doathan, no kisses for you." Marie laughed at the little boy who during the past few months had suddenly gotten too old to be tucked in and given a good night kiss, or so he claimed.

Making sure the boys were comfortable Marie dimmed the lights and left the room.

"De," San whispered to his brother. "Who was that man who was waiting for us? Why didn't he say something? I thought I knew him. I think he was a friend once."

De rolled over and faced his brother. "Yes, I think he was a friend from a long time ago. I'm not sure what we should do. Maybe we should just pretend he's not there at all."

San huffed and pushed his head up on his hand so that he could see his brother better. "He looked sad. It was like he was all alone. Nobody looked at him but us. Why was that?"

De rolled on his back and studied the ceiling. "I'm pretty sure we were the only ones that could see him. Something is tickling inside my head. I think if I go to sleep I might dream of him. Maybe if you go to sleep you'll dream of him too. Good night San."


	10. Chapter 10 - Another Door Opens

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 10**

**Another Door Opens**

Later that night Castiel abandons his post and moves for the first time in decades. He needs to know if what he saw was real. Could this alien child truly conceal tattered remnants of Dean Winchester's soul? The invisible Angel leans over the child's bed and runs his hand lightly through the short blonde hair. It has been years since Castiel has felt anything at all and to feel hope again almost tears him apart.

The child's eyes open and he looks at Castiel. The Angel shudders at the impossibility of the action. No human has looked upon his face since Dean lay down on the desert sands to die beside his brother. The bright green eyes pierce the Seraph's being and would have pierced his soul if he had one. The little boy smiles and breathes a whispered, "Hi Cas" then goes back to sleep.

He returns to his post, shaken to his very core. Emotion races through him, filling up empty places and, unfortunately, the emotion overflows and touches Heaven. Hope and love invades those cold halls of perfect contemplation and attract attention. Such gifts should flow only from God himself, not from some exiled Seraph on watch on Earth.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Jack O'Neill sat at the head of the conference table, relaxed and smiling. He had aged but had aged well. Still sharp, still quick witted and easy to like, he considered most of the people gathered around the table as his friends. Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c of course, were long time members of SG-1 and good friends. The Tok'ra Selmac who was partners with Jacob Carter, Major Carter's father was also a good friend. Jack smiled and played with his coffee cup while fiddling with his napkin, folding it into a lovely origami crane.

The rest of the gathering was not all that friendly. Two more Tok'ra sat expressing disapproval of Jack's fiddling but they kept their mouths shut. Who knew, maybe origami cranes were a sign of respect among the Tau'ri? Directly across from the Tok'ra delegation was the man from the State Department who darn well knew origami cranes were not normal but Jack O'Neill had friends like the Asgard and Selmac so the man from the State Department kept his mouth shut.

"So, guys," Jack started the meeting rolling. "What'd you do with His Snakeyness in a Box? Good present for ya', right?"

The two Tok'ra looked to Jacob / Selmac for a translation. What exactly was the O'Neill saying?

"General O'Neill is inquiring about the disposition of the Goa'uld Tiernen. " Selmac graciously translated for his Tok'ra cohorts.

"The Goa'uld Tiernen has been delivered to the Tok'ra council for interrogation." Kief replied. "We wish to thank you on their behalf. The council is very pleased."

"Think nothing of it, guys." Jack said, waving a casual hand. "We like giving gifts to our friends."

Kief dipped his head in thanks. "I do, however, have a request from the council. The Tok'ra wants to understand how the Goa'uld was removed from its host. How was this accomplished? The Tok'ra council is not aware of any way to accomplish such a separation without killing both the Goa'uld and the host. May we ask if Tiernan's host is still alive?"

Daniel Jackson spoke up. "Yes, the host is alive. His name is Dejon and he was taken from his home in France a thousand years ago. He is here with us, recovering from the separation in our medical bay. He is speaking and remembers his home, his family and his name. He also remembers a great deal of his life under Tiernan's control." The blonde, mild mannered academic peered over his glasses at the Tok'ra, radiating a gentle intelligence.

Kief's associate Bennin took up the conversation. "That is amazing. Not only that he lives but that he is capable of speech and remembrance. It has always been assumed that the host's mind withers away after a period of time. That this one lives in such good condition is remarkable. The council needs to be made aware. Can we meet the host? I mean, of course, can we meet Dejon?"

Jack smiled down the table at Bennin. "Now, don't you think that might be pushing it a bit? I mean, the guy just got his body back. Let's give the poor man a little room to breathe."

Kief leaped into the conversational pause. "Yes, of course. General O'Neill. You must forgive my colleague, Bennin. " Kief spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders in what he hoped was an a human expression. He had, after all, practiced it a lot. "These scientific types, what can you do?"

Jack stopped fiddling with his crane and flicked it over to Colonel Carter, who caught it neatly. Jack however, wasn't watching. He was looking directly at Daniel Jackson. "Scientific types, tell me about it. I feel like I'm being left in the dirt every time Daniel opens his mouth."

Daniel glanced up at Jack's face. "Right, that's what happens, every time."

Kief joined in the general laughter. "This is all very pleasant. I see we are all getting along quite easily however, we must insist, at the order of the council that we find out how the host was separated from the Goa'uld."

"How 'bout this, guys." Jack said leaning back in his chair and smiling his 'trust me' smile again. "If you have a test subject for us to separate I'll introduce you to our secret weapons. Does that sound good?"

For some reason that comment made the Jaffa smile. "Yes, O'Neill; secret weapons indeed." Teal'c intoned.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

It took a week for the Tok'ra to return with a prisoner for the experiment. Kief and Bennin came with the captive Goa'uld, a minor system Lord appropriately named Ruin, and a guard of about eight Tok'ra fighters. SG-1 suddenly seemed to be overrun with men who spoke with two different voices.

In the absence of the Tok'ra O'Neill had asked that De lay down a Sign of Protection at the base of the ramp in the Gate room. It had been suggested by some that the ritual take place elsewhere in order to keep the Gate Room clear for traffic, both outbound and returning. The Gate room however provided the best view for officials through the large, blast protected control room and the Gate room already had cameras installed, capable of scanning every square inch of the place. O'Neill had listened to every idea and then decided to keep the experiment in the Gate room.

If this worked Jack wanted to make very sure that De's Sign of Protection became a permanent addition to the security measures of that most sensitive of areas. The Goa'uld would no longer be able to use SG-1's Gate to attack.

Daniel had provided De with paint and herbs. He had stayed with the child, taking notes on every move, every muttered word that the De uttered. When the paint finally met with De's approval they had painted the Sign and sealed it afterwards.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Tok'ra marched down the ramp, surrounding a dark skinned man dressed in a pleated white linen skirt slashed with golden bars; typical Goa'uld over dressing. All the Goa'uld's jewelry had been stripped so no golden ring or twisted bracelets that were designed to inflict pain. The only weapon the Goa'uld had left was the enhanced strength the parasite gave a normal body. Of course the Goa'uld was cursing and insulting his escort but since none of the humans with the possible exception of Daniel Jackson could understand what was being said no one cared and the Tok'ra were used to it.

At the bottom of the ramp a line of Marines prevented the Tok'ra guard from accidently stepping into De's Sign of Protection. The Marines opened a path for only the Goa'uld to pass through and, to the confusion of the Tok'ra, Selmac ordered them to let the System Lord advance.

The Goa'uld walked straight over De's artwork and ran full bore into the other side. Hitting the invisible barrier he bounced hack, landing on his ass in surprise.

Up in the control room Jack O'Neill burst into laughter, earning him a glare from the embarrassed System Lord.

"Well, that set him back on his bony ass." Jack said between huffs of laughter. "I guess the kid's stuff really works."

Daniel Jackson adjusted his glasses and said, "I think I want to go down and observe more closely. When the children are brought in it should be very interesting." He used the side stairs to descend to the floor.

The main door to the Gate room slid to the side revealing Ronon with De's hand in his and Teyla, carrying San. De tugged on Ronon's hand and the tall Satedan leaned down to hear what the boy had to say,

At the end of a few minutes of intense conversation Ronon raised his head.

"General O'Neill," Ronon's rich voice rolled through the Gate room as he tried to get it to carry up to where O'Neill was standing. "De says that he and San are not strong enough to take care of all these people at once. He thinks they might be able to do two or three but it would be better to take care of them one at a time."

O'Neill exclaimed. "Crap, you mean it would affect everyone down there not just the guy in the circle?" Ronon looked down at De who was nodding his head.

"Evidently anyone in the room will be affected to some degree." Ronon replied. Tired of bending over to hear De talk Ronon picked the boy up.

"Ronon, find out if it would be OK for the Ambassador and his friends stood up here with me." Jack directed.

Ronon listened to De. "He says it is most likely safe but only humans can be in this room. All others must leave before the ritual starts or they may be harmed."

During these prolonged discussions the Goa'uld had been circling in the trap, looking for a weak spot; muttering and gesturing the he kept slapping his hands against the invisible barrier that surrounded him.

Selmac, Kief and Bennin took the stairs to the control room. Daniel Jackson went with them to translate or answer any questions. Once there Selmac leaned into O'Neill. "Jack, where are these people from? I don't recognize their home planets."

Jack answered. "These people are from worlds that remain unknown to the Tok'ra. The man is a Satedan and the women and the children are Athosians. Earth has her secrets too and I am not supposed to tell you where these planets can be found."

"Very well, "Selmac said. "I'll hold my peace for now but if this works we will have to have some more details later"

Jack gave a curt nod. "If it works we'll talk about it."

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Goa'uld Ruin focused on Ronon, expecting the man to be the danger. If he regarded the children at all he most likely thought they could be sacrifices. When Ronon walked around the circle and put De back down on his feet everyone in the room began to watch the child. Teyla placed San directly opposite De then she and Ronon stepped away until they had their backs against the wall.

When De began to speak sensitive microphones picked up his childish voice and sent his words into every corner. Jack instructed Sgt. Harriman, the Gate Keeper, to increase the volume. The Tok'ra observers pushed forward to the window.

De, in his sweet childish voice, said, "I stand in the West; I stand with the setting sun. My brother stands in the East and greets a new day. We call on the old Gods, Osiris, Ra and his daughter Sekhmet to aid the God Ha-Shem, Adonai, in this work."

The Tok'ra turned to stare at Jack O'Neill. "Hey, don't look at me," Jack said, raising his hands. "I just think it's creepy."

Daniel Jackson snickered from the back of the room. "Nice one, Jack." Teal'c folded his arms and listened to the child as seriously as he would have listened to one of his own people's prophets.

De and San both dropped their heads, gathering their former lives forward. In an empty corner the Angel Castiel felt movement on the spiritual plane. There was a sense of someone arriving. Far over the smooth, gentle curve of the void, out of the curtain of time two figures approached. From the birthplace of creation, Dean and Sam Winchester approached their newest incarnations. Castiel's friends swept past him and melted into the children.

De lifted his head and spoke In a dark, adult voice while raising his hands on either side of his head and placing his palms forward toward the Impenetrable wall of the Devil's Trap, the Sign of Protection of the Peruses Galaxy. San extended his hands, palms also exposed, and swung like a compasses toward the Goa'uld.

Dean began:

_**ADJÚRO TE, serpens antíque, per júdicem vivórum et mortuórum, per factórem tuum, per factórem mundi, per eum, qui habet potestátem mitténdi te in gehénnam, ut ab hoc fámulo Dei serpen, qui ad Ecclésiæ sinum recúrrit, cum metu, et exército furóris tui festínus**_** discédas.**

The Goa'uld who, until that moment had been standing with his arms folded and a sneer on his face, feel to his knees and began to choke.

Dean paused. "Ronon, the cage!" the dark voice called and the Satedan picked up a wire cage that was sitting just inside the door. The tall man moved around to stand behind De with the open cage in his hands.

Again the dark adult voice poured out of the child:

_**Adjúro te íterum, non mea infirmitáte, sed virtúte Spíritus Sancti, ut éxeas ab hoc fámulo omnípotens Deus ad imáginem suam fecit. Cede ígitur, cede non mihi, sed minístro Christi. Illius enim te urges potéstas, qui te Cruci suæ subjugávit. Illíus bráchium contremísce, qui, devíctis gemítibus inférni, ánimas ad lucem perdúxit. **_

The Goa'uld shivered and fell forward on to his hands**. **He been to choke in earnest and fell further, on to his side. All the observers could see the throat of the host ripple. A white, mucus covered slug like extension pushed its way past the host's lips.

Dean began now to shout:

_**Non resístas nec moréris discédere ad hómine isto, quoniam complácuit discédere ab hómine isto, quóniam complácuit Christo in hómine habitáre. Et ne contemnéndum putes, dum me peccatórem nimis esse cognóscis. Imperat tibi Deus . Imperat tibi majéstas Christi . Imperat tibi Deus Pater , ímperat tibi Deus Fílius , ímperat tibi Deus Spíritus Sanctus . **_

With a disgusting, wet splat a foot long white slug with fins and four protruding fangs slithered out of the host's mouth. The man began to breathe again, taking in huge mouthfuls of air.

Up in the control room there was quiet pandemonium. Jack's lip curled in disgust. The Tok'ra's eyes were flashing and their voices slid back and forth between host and guest, gasping out their shock and surprise.

Down on the floor of the Gate room Ronon was involved with capturing the Goa'uld. The parasite threw itself around the circle, smacking furiously into the wall.

Teyla had stepped into the circle and dragged the host out of range during the Goa'uld's angry attack. De had warned the Atlantis crew that the Goa'uld could re-enter the host if the victim was allowed to remain inside the trap and this function now fell to Teyla to perform. Finally Ronon timed a leap perfectly and stepped in while the Goa'uld leaped forward. Ronon slammed the cage door on a now complete enraged system Lord.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

"Well, that's the show," Jack O'Neill addressed his Tok'ra visitors. "Now you know as much as we do."

"Who are these children, Jack?" Selmac asked. "Where do they come from?"

Daniel Jackson answered. "Perhaps we should all return to the conference room. This control room is getting a little crowded and the Satedan needs to be told what to do with your Goa'uld friend in the cage."

Selmac turned back to the window. "I'll go down and take care of that, if you don't mind. What are their names?"

Colonel Carter took her father's arm. "Come on, Dad. I'll introduce you."

De looked at Cas on duty in the empty corner of the room. "Hey Cas, how have you been doing"

"Dean?" the Angel whispered. "Is it really you?"

"I told you I'd look you up next time I came back." It was strange to hear that familiar voice coming from the child.

"I'm afraid I didn't understand you, my friend." Cas answered. "This is a very big surprise."

"I know," Dean said. "Look, I'll try to explain it. Why don't you came to our room again tonight and you and I will have a long talk while the kid's asleep?"

"I would like that very much. One question right now, though." Cas tilted his head and looked into Dean Winchester's bright green eyes peeping out of a small child' face. "Sam is part of the other child, isn't he?"

"Yeah, we're both here." Dean answered softly. "We're sort of a package deal. You don't get one Winchester without the other. That's the way we were made."

"But what are you?" Cas wanted to go on.

"Hold it until tonight, OK Cas?" Dean said. "People are beginning to notice me talking to an empty wall.


	11. Chapter 11 - Keeping Them Safe

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 11**

**Keeping Them Safe**

In the darkest part of night, when all was quiet and peaceful the Angel Castiel once again abandoned his post and appeared beside the bed holding the small body of Doathan, the Athosian child. He stared at the little boy and watched him breathe then stroked his cheek. Finally Cas murmured "Dean?"

The child awoke with a smile on his lips. "Never did grasp the concept of personal space, did you Cas?" Dean laughed. "And, oh yeah, watching people sleep is still creepy."

Cas rejoiced to hear his friend's long lost voice. If he wasn't an Angel he would have cried with joy. Finally he gathered his rioting emotions and got them under control.

"What of the child, Dean? Do you possess him? Is he safe?" the Angel murmured.

"Don't worry, Cas." The child replied in Dean's voice. "I promised you I would explain." De took a deep breath. "I am the child and the child is me. I can't possess myself." Dean replied cryptically.

"The same applies to me" came a voice from the other bed.

Castiel turned and looked at the child Sandow. The boy was so young to have that man's deep voice.

"Yes, Cas, we are both here." Dean went on. "One of us cannot exist without the other. Let me try to explain."

"Long ago at the beginning of creation there was Death and there was God. There were also several other basic components of the reality. One was the soul. The original soul was broken into two parts, the light and the dark. Men have also named those parts the Ying and the Yang. The soul provides a choice for humans. They must choose between good and evil, between Hell or Heaven, between darkness and light.

"We are the broken pieces of that original soul. Each new beginning again provides a choice to those who meet us. The choice is now yours, Castiel the Angel. "Your Heaven has been corrupted. The Angels were an attempt to create perfection; an attempt that fail miserably."

"As it is above, so is it below." Dean laughed "an old chestnut but still useful. Look at Anna, Uriel, Alistair, Azazael, Zachariah and Lucifer. They made their choice and now they must spend eternity with that choice."

"What of these children?" Cas asked. "What are they?"

"They are only another aspect of us. The bodies and minds are usually allowed to grow until they can support their own burden. Unfortunately they were needed in their world before they were truly ready to pick up the burden and now their young lives are beginning to spiral out of control."

Behind Cas young San slid out of his bed and came to sit beside his brother.

"Hi, Cas." Sam Winchester spoke. "Perhaps I can explain this to you. Remember how Zachariah had four faces in Heaven and how each face represented a different power?"

"Yes, Zachariah was greatly feared in Heaven." Cas replied. "Dean killed him. How that came to be is still a matter of wonder."

Sam nodded his little boy head. "For each of our new lives we gain another facet…."

There was a noise and the door of their room opened. Marie stuck her head in. "De, San! What are you doing up? You both need to go to sleep now. San, get back in your bed."

Marie came over and settled in a chair right next to the Angel. Dean and Sam disappeared like turning out a light and Cas returned to his post in the Gate Room, turning over in his mind the pieces of the puzzle he had just been given. The only sound in SG-1 was the movement of Sgt. Harriman's night time replacement rustling around in the control room, monitoring the gate.

Cas stood watch.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Teyla stood before General O'Neill with Ronon at her back. "We came voluntarily and now we want to leave." The Athosian ground out tensely. "You cannot hold us here against our will. We are a free people"

Jack O'Neill was acutely uncomfortable. His strengths lay in making friends and easing conflicts. Issuing ultimatums to foreign governments was really not his style. However, he was under a directive from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to see to it that these children were made available to the Tok'ra council. His hands were tied. Nobody was running off to some planet in the Pegasus Galaxy even if the decision made difficulties for their Atlantis outpost.

On Earth the Tok'ra swung a lot more weight than the Athosians. If the Tok'ra leaned on Earth's government there was little to stop them from finally seizing De and San. All the boys had were Teyla and Ronon. No one except Dean and Sam knew about their hidden Angel. Without their avatars the boys were only children again, small packages of possibility only.

Now Jack was faced with a very angry woman who happened to be the head of a foreign government. Backing her up was a seven foot tall angry alien with a real big gun. Jack spread his hands.

"Perhaps if we could talk about this…." He started.

"You want to talk?" Teyla snapped. "Come to Athos and talk." She beckoned to Marie to come closer with the children. Armed Marines stepped in to line the entrance to the ramp and prevented Marie, De and San from getting closer to the gate.

The Tok'ra Selmac came in from the corridor to stand behind the children. His partner, Jacob Carter spoke. "Please Teyla, may I call you Teyla? Please, we mean you no harm. No one is going to hurt the children. We simply want them to come to our base and do what they have been doing anyway, pulling Goa'uld out of unwilling hosts."

Teyla fumed. "No, that is not what these children have been doing. They have been growing up and going to school and living their lives. Along the way occasionally they demonstrated this ability you value so highly. There is more to their lives than that."

Ronon moved further down the ramp. "Remove these soldiers and allow the children to come to me." He growled. "I will not allow my adopted brothers to spend another birthday trapped in locked rooms away from the sun."

Now Colonel Carter spoke up as Jack O'Neill turned away from the window. "We are very sorry about that. If we had known it was San's birthday we would have arranged something more for him"

"That is not the point," Teyla lashed out. "The point is they spent his birthday in captivity. These are children, not pets, not animals to be caged. I insist you allow us to return them home."

A klaxon blared and all the involved parties splintered to defensive positions as the Stargate roared and spun. In a very few minutes the wormhole formed and Teyla and Ronon just missed getting sucked into the vortex. Marie screamed and fell on top of the children as Tok'ra fighters spilled out of the Stargate. Orange energy blasts flashed into the room.

"Crap!" Jack spit. "Sargent Harriman, get that gate shut down now."

"Yes sir," the Gate Keeper responded but too late. The Marines on the ramp blocked the Tok'ra from rolling directly into the Sign of Protection but Jaffa now spilled also from the gate in hot pursuit, as the military men say.

The Marines dived over the ramp's side and pushed the Tok'ra away as the Jaffa continued to fire but became very confused as all six of them found themselves trapped inside a circle painted on the floor. Finally the last of the invaders appeared; a Goa'uld dressed in to the usual overdone Egyptian finery.

He immediately ran to join his Jaffa guard. Jack pegged him as one of the stupid classes of Goa'uld as the creature may have regained his guard but now was as trapped as they were.

Several thoughts crashed into each other in the General's mind. First of all, the Tok'ra was going to have to move their base yet again. It looked like the Goa'uld knew exactly where they were. Secondly there was a spy embedded somewhere in the Tok'ra rebels, how else would the Goa'uld had heard of the children? Next, how the hell were they going to disarm the Jaffa who were currently blasting the hell out the gate room? The walls were blossoming with black blast scars.

More Marines arrived and surrounded the Jaffa. They shot a couple and the Jaffa raised their hands, completely immobilized. The Marine in charge motioned for them to throw their weapons out of the circle.

Finally, Sargent Harriman shut down the gate and for a few minutes the area was quiet.

Jack made a decision. "Harriman, open the Gate to Atlantis." It was better to hide the children on Atlantis then run the danger of further attacks. In addition, if the Gate was open to Atlantis no incoming wormhole could be accepted. Harriman began to program the sequence.

The mountain shook. "What the hell?' General O'Neill was shocked. He didn't know of anything short of a nuclear strike that could actually shake the Cheyanne Mountain installation. Once again klaxon blared but they were blaring throughout the shaken base.

Jack looked at Colonel Carter and she shrugged. "Earthquake?" she suggested. The mountain shook again.

The speaker over their heads blared. "General O'Neill?" the communications room officer's voice was coldly controlled. "Call from upstairs, Major Clinton." Clinton was in charge of the Army base which filled the first 18 floors of the installation. The base was Stargate's camouflage. The elevators didn't even have buttons for any lower floors than 18. To get to the elevators that serviced the eight floors of Stargate Command a person had to pass through a heavily armed security station.

"What's going on up there Major?" Jack barked.

"We are under attack." The Major answered. "But I can't tell you by what. There are these bright flashes of light, too bright to look at. We lost a couple of guys that way. They're dead and their eyes are burned out of their heads. The flashes only come for a few seconds and then they move to another… oops."

The Major's report was cut short as Cheyanne Mountain shook twice, hard, and in succession.

"Are you still with us Tom?" Jack cried out.

"Yes, I'm here. The flashes, whatever they are, are moving downwards through the installation. Those two jolts were from floor 3. They seem to be looking for something." The Major's voice was cut off again and the communications system blurred. They only thing they could hear next was the words "….coming your way."

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

There was someone in the Gate Room who knew exactly what was coming. Castiel knew it was his uncontrolled emotions that had alerted Heaven. From what Castiel regarded as the mildness of the attack this raid was not likely to be sanctioned by the higher choirs. These were rogue Angels, fanatics, looking to return to the path of the apocalypse. He immediately moved to stand guard over the children.

Marie felt something settled over her. It calmed her and made her feel protected and safe. A man's low pitched voice said "Take the children to the front of the gate when it opens." She stood in the midst of confusion and gathered up the children. She held San in one arm and took De's hand with the other. The Stargate burst into life and she started forward. Ignoring the yelling behind her she walked steadily as if she knew there was a shield protecting her.

The floor began to shake and all the various creatures gathered there crouched down or held on to anything firm. The Jaffa in the circle held on to each other and left the Goa'uld to stand alone. Teyla and Ronon struggled up the now unguarded ramp with their eyes on Marie. Just as the original five travelers gathered in front of the wormhole, blinding bright flashes of pure light pierced the room. Castiel manifested in a naked human form and spread his wings in front of the group, protecting them from the other Angels.

He spoke in a voice that rolled like thunder through the room. "You must all close your eyes if you want to live. Close your eyes and do not look upon them. Your eyes will burn and you will die. Close your eyes, close your eyes."

In the control room the assembled group saw the winged man standing in front of the Gate. He glowed with a pure white light which danced and moved, mixed with delicate slashes of opalescent blues, greens and palest pinks. He was undoubtedly beautiful and his wings spread across the face of the Gate. They were glory in reality, a reflection of grace from worlds beyond.

He spoke to the achingly bright columns moving over the floor of the gate room. If the humans had been able to hear his words they would have heard, "Why are you here, brothers?"

One of the three columns coalesced down into another Angel. Pure white common feathers made his wings plain in the face of Castiel's display. "Ah, yes, Castiel. We should have expected you, the rebellious one. Have you learned nothing from your years of exile? Give us the vessels so that our Father's plan may proceed."

"That plan was rejected decades ago." Castiel responded. "Now you are the one going against God's word." Castiel turned his head to the side and whispered. "Go now. Go, all of you." Behind him he heard the sound of bodies entering the wormhole and the Angels before him became agitated. Castiel drew his sword.

As his brothers advanced Castiel drew in his wings and fell backwards through the Star Gate. In the control room Sargent Harriman moved swiftly to shut the Gate down.

"Good job, Walter," Jack said. "I hope they all are safe." The three columns of light disappeared. Stunned groups of Marines, Tok'ra and Jaffa all stood and wondered exactly what they had just witnessed. Selmac, the Tok'ra Ambassador partnered with Jacob Carter turned to Jack O'Neill.

Jacob spoke. "Jack, what do you think just happened?"

Jack turned to the shocked Daniel Jackson. "Daniel," he said "You want to handle this one?"

Dr. Jackson removed and started to clean his glasses, a nervous habit he fell into during times of stress or doubt. "I believe that we have all been trumped by a power most of us didn't believe existed. If I am not completely mistaken, that was a classic Angel standing in front of the Gate. I think Heaven has taken a hand. I have no other explanation."


	12. Chapter 12 - An Angel in Atlantis

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 12**

**An Angel in Atlantis**

The travelers returned to Atlantis. First there appeared Marie with San in her arms; then De, Teyla and Ronon individually. Ronon was holding his gun at ready and the usually placid Teyla appeared disturbed. There was one more ripple on the billowing surface of the Gate and the Atlantis crew braced for unexpected arrivals. Nothing happened. The surface of the Gate, disturbed momentarily, settled back into its normal placid rippling effect. In the space of a few more heartbeats the wormhole collapsed**.**

Dr. Weir was standing behind Chuck the Gatekeeper up in the control room. She noticed that when the unusual 'empty bubble' appeared on the face of the Gate, Chuck had rapidly checked a number of his dials and indicators.

"What was that?" she asked. "I've never seen the Gate act like that before."

Chuck agreed. "I haven't either. It was almost like something arrived but we could not see it."

The technician leaned back in his chair. "Just to be on the safe side I'm going to run a series of diagnostics. I want to make sure nothings been added to the air. I would hate to see everyone suddenly pass out."

Castiel, the unseen visitor, stood silently absorbing this new place. The glowing blue surface of the Gate fascinated him. He wanted to run his fingers through the power radiating against his intangible body. The power soothed him, bathed him in energy. It was very much like standing near the Throne in Heaven's Vault. He was pleased.

"That would suppose some kind of attack on Atlantis through Cheyanne Mountain. Surely that's not possible." Elizabeth Weir replied to Chuck's comment.

Down below on the floor of the Gate room John Shepard entered along with Doctors Zelenka and McKay and a few of John's soldiers. As Dr. Weir watched the travelers were escorted to debriefing. She descended from Chuck's perch and headed for the conference room herself. Another also followed the group but Castiel was both unseen and unknown except by a couple of momentarily banished avatars.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Once in the conference room the debriefing began. The travelers had been gone for months. Both De and San had birthdays off planet and Elizabeth was disturbed to hear that the children had been kept essentially in lock up during the entire period. Teyla was very angry about their trip to Earth and their treatment there. SG-1 had not made a good impression on either Teyla or Ronon in spite of Jack O'Neill's affable overtures. It was the armed guards that the Athosian leader and the Satedan had seen the most often.

When Ronon began to describe the attempt by the Tok'ra to seize the children and the Goa'uld incursion for the same reason, John Sheppard rose to order armed guards to the Gate Room.

Dr. Weir was very aware of Chuck's voice in her ear piece. Star Gate command was pinging the Gate over and over; an annoying 'knocking at the door' done electronically. Normally the Atlantis officers flew to answer that summons but currently there was some question as to the breach of trust between the installations. Technically Jack O'Neill was their boss however Jack was currently a galaxy away. If Atlantis refused to open the Gate there was little that Star Gate Command could do about it.

Elizabeth chose a compromise. She ordered Chuck to open the Gate to communications only. The iris was to remain closed and Chuck was to inform Earth that the iris was going to remain closed until such time as the safety of Atlantis could be assured.

While Chuck was setting up the link Elizabeth returned her attention to the group in the conference room. She noticed that the children were not sitting between Teyla and Ronon as they usually did. The boys had moved away from the adults and were sitting alone at the end of the table. Elizabeth smiled at the little ones and interrupted the adult's conversation to ask if they wanted anything; juice perhaps or maybe some food?

De whispered in San's ear and the little one spoke up. "Could I have juice, please?" San said.

"He probably needs food too." De added.

"What about you De?" Teyla asked, "Don't you want food and juice too?"

"OK, that would be good," the little boy answered while rubbing his hand against the edge of the table "but San first, OK? Then me."

Teyla rose and went to the door to instruct the guards to have something sent up from the kitchens. She was re-establishing her position as the boys' guardian, somewhat disturbed that the one who thought first of the boys' welfare was Dr. Weir.

Elisabeth observed the boys as they all waited. Even though the children had moved away from their normal protectors it seemed as if they were somehow still safe. After a few moments the debriefing continued.

The Atlantis personnel were trying to get as clear a picture a possible of the events that had occurred on Earth but Teyla and Ronon were growing impatient. They simply wanted to be returned immediately to the main land with the children.

Elizabeth's feelings were better indicators than she knew. She was correct in the supposition that the children felt safe at the other end of the room. De and Sam were well aware of the Man with Wings. They could not see him fully. He was like a thin film in the light but they recognized their protector from the Earth Gate Room and they felt safely enfolded in his wings.

Castiel was fascinated by his new surroundings. He could feel the Vault of Heaven above but it felt empty; empty and somehow fresh and new. There were no voices in his head and no matter how he tried he could not find angel voices on this world. The oceans were full of life. The land was home to an amazing variety of plants and animals he had never seen before. The signs of his Father's proliferate hand were everywhere and the very air sang with life but the Vault was pure and unoccupied.

Castiel was content. He and his friends appeared to be beyond the reach of Earth's angels. The Angels of Heaven imagined Earth without humans as a paradise. In this world God had expressed the idea that a world without angels could also be a type of paradise.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The children had been safely tucked up in their bed by Marie. They were not yet asleep. San was coloring a book of Athosian animals and De was 'helping'. He was, of course, much too old to color like a baby but even so he was very involved in picking out the colors for little brother to use.

The adult meeting had broken up with demands on each side. The Atlantians wanted promises that the children would be available to do their type of exorcism on Goa'uld selected by SG-1 at the request of their allies, the Tok'ra. Atlantis wanted to retain their protection against the Wraith. Teyla and Ronon simply wanted to be sent back to the mainland with the children and be allowed to carry on their regular day-to- day existence. It was obvious that no one was going to get everything they demanded.

Dr. Weir had sat through the meeting with Jack O'Neill and occasionally others, pouring suggestions and occasionally orders into her ear. The entire three way conversation had given her a headache. Currently everyone had retired to their individual quarters with a promise of picking up the meeting again after everyone got some rest.

Castiel had stood guard over the children, his only responsibility. He had absorbed the conflicts in the room and was well aware of the dispute over the custody of the children. He sincerely hoped that these humans could settle their differences and would not resort to violence to advance their claims.

He had desired to speak, to reveal himself as the children's ultimate protector but decided finally to remain concealed. Another set of conflicting claims added to the stew already cooking was likely to cause a resort to force to advance one of the viewpoints. The 800 pound gorilla was Stargate Command. The Atlantis personnel were predominately soldiers; soldiers bond by a military code of conduct to obey the chain of command culminating in the Earth Command structure.

Teyla was being deferred to as the head of the Athosian people and the guardian of the children but only courtesy held back the hand of the military people. Ronon held the children's hearts but those fragile objects and his gun were all the cards he had to play.

Castiel was also a solder, one of Heaven's Warriors in his past life but he had stepped away from his post and gone over to the side of the Winchesters. An argument could be made in Heaven that he was a traitor.

The Angel wondered if God would be pleased with one of his retinue consorting with principals from the beginnings of time. After all, God was only one of the principals. There was also Death and here were the Winchesters carrying on through time as the divided soul. There was also Fate, the ancient sisters, Nature, the Mother who was the protector of new life and other archetypes among which God was only one voice. These thoughts if expressed openly could expel the Seraph from his place in the Heavenly hierarchy. He valued that place in the Vault of Heaven even if lately he had been derided and cast down.

Cas made sure his Wards were comfortable and safe and then left to wander the corridors of Atlantis. The first thing he discovered, to his surprise, was that the City itself was sentient. The humans traveling the corridors never noticed the Warrior of God striding through the passages but Atlantis was very aware. Visible or not she treated Cas as simply another visitor, deserving of light and heat and the automatic opening of doors. This amused the Angel and also helped him understand a little more about the people who had built this city.

The City was essentially blind. It did not 'see' the creatures that it sheltered, it felt them. Cas suspected that a corpse would simply be treated as inconvenient trash. It was the life force or the ever present electrical charge that indicated a living being that seemed to draw the City's attention.

He wandered the large installation without direction. Just like Atlantis itself he was drawn to life. He found Dr. Weir resting in her cabin on the bed. Passing close to her he could feel the pain she was trying to hide during the meeting. In a moment of purity he brushed her forehead with extended fingers and the headache died. She relaxed into a real sleep.

Further along the same corridor he came upon John Sheppard, hunching over maps of Atlantis, listing items on an electronic pad and generally fulfilling his military responsibilities for the next day. He was assigning posts, checking inventory, estimating the state of the weapons designed to keep the station safe. Here Cas learned of the enemies of Atlantis as he sat in background listening to various reports being made verbally to the stations' military commander. As Captain of his own Garrison previously he recognized exactly what Shepard was doing.

There did not appear to be any threat in this Galaxy from Demons but there was threat from some creatures called Wraith who were once human but had been infected and modified by a type of insect. It could be regarded as a type of genetic possession and Cas could understand why Exorcisms, spells and protection developed on Earth long ago could work on these creatures also,

Shepard finally turned off his devices, stretched and started getting ready for bed. Cas moved along. He was amused when Atlantis opened the door for him, surprising an almost naked Shepard. The man was frozen in confusion and the door closed on his startled face.

On another level Cas inadvertently walked into an electronics lab and set off flashing lights and chiming alarms. Several scientists rushed into the room and Cas backed away. From the grumbled remarks he gathered that he had disturbed several experiments in progress. Most of the lab coated personnel were concerned with only their own matters but one man stood in the middle of the room and tried to understand what had affected all these experiments at the same time.

The man's eyes swept from side to side and then he extended a type of meter in his hand and methodically scanned the entire room. Cas was standing near the door, purposely not close enough to trigger Atlantis's all too willing desire to open it for him. The man's device flashed when he passed it over Cas's position and the scientist stepped closer. Cs decided to trigger the door and carry on his exploring elsewhere. Waving his hand caused the door to open and the scientist rushed forward as if to stop him.

"Look here," the man shouted. "There's something here. Help me stop it."

"Dr. McKay," answered another of the men, "There's nothing there to stop. What do you want us to do?"

Cas was through the door and on his way. Atlantis closed the door in Rodney McKay's angry face.

Continuing with his wandering Castiel found himself back near the children's rooms. He heard voices and recognized the ones called Teyla and Ronon. Making a decision he passed into the room, Atlantis overriding the lock that Teyla had put on the door. Once again surprised faces were displayed at the city's "mistake."

Ronon rose from a couch and peered out though the now open door. He scanned the corridor for someone and no one was there. Both the Satedan and the Athosian thought the event was unusual but they didn't live on Atlantis so didn't know that the City didn't make those kind of mistakes.

Cas settled on the back of a couch with his feet on the seat and let his wings drop down over the back of the piece of furniture. He leaned forward, put his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands and became visible.

Ronon immediately dived for his gun and Teyla back rapidly away from the stranger. Cas waved his hand and Ronon's weapon was suspended in the air, close to the ceiling.

"Do not fear." Cas announced. "Peace be with you both."

This ancient greeting didn't seem to work as well on the aliens as it did on shepherds in the hills above Bethlehem. These people were not soothed. Ronon attempted to leap upwards for his gun.

"I mean you no harm.' Cas said softly. "I only wish to speak to you about the children."

"What do you know about the children?" Teyla hissed. "And what are you? How did you get in here?" The woman was quite tense and the man looked furious.

Cas extended his wings. They almost touched the walls of Teyla's cabin. "I am an Angel." Cas tried again. "I have been assigned as guardian of the children by the Winchesters. There is nothing to fear. I am here to help you succeed in your desire to remove the children from potential harm."

Just the sight of an Angel's wings could sooth anxiety. There were beautiful and shined with Grace. Ripples of pale color moved over the feathers and painted reflections on the walls of the room. Teyla sat down on her bed and watched the play of colors.

Ronon backed down and also sat. "I'm sorry," the Satedan said. "The word "Angel means nothing to us. How did you get here? Was it you that came through when the door opened?"

Cas considered how much of the Satedan's question he could answer without going into a long explanation of Earth based religious mythology. Not much he decided. Just the statement 'I am an Angel of the Lord' was fraught with difficulties. The word Angel needed definition and context and the word Lord was even worse.

Cas sighed. He tilted his head to one side, a habit Dean had often laughed at. Dena said it made Cas look like a bird. Dean was a man of war and Ronon was a man of war. Maybe Ronon would think it was funny too.

Cas sighed again. That didn't work. "Look,' he tried again. "I came here through the Star Gate with you both and the Children. I have a responsibility to keep those children safe. I have walked all over this place tonight and listened to many conversations. You two are the only ones who are concerned about the children as children. All the other interested parties are thinking of them only as weapons."

Teyla nodded. "That is very true. I wish that we never found out about De's Signs of Protection. They have saved my people's lives and we would not want to destroy the ones we have but the children are being pursued by so many now. I know we will not be able to keep them safe. One of these groups will take them from us."

"That's what I can prevent." Cas told her. "I am a Warrior," he allowed his sword to drop into his hand. Ronon stood up and moved in Teyla's direction.

"Don't worry," Cas said. ""I'm not going to attack either of you but you should know that I am armed. The Angel sword is only one of my weapons. Not even you, Ronon, could stand before me."

"My worth to you lies not in my ability to fight. " Cas went on. "I can move you all in a moment anywhere on this planet you would want to be. I can take you all, all at once to the mainland, to your homes or even to the other side of the planet. You only have to indicate where you want to go."

"That's not possible," Ronon objected.

Cas stood up. "Where would you like to be, Ronon?"

"Just move me to the children's room." the Satedan said. "That should be proof enough."

Cas touched Ronon's arm and the Angel and the warrior disappeared. In a moment they were back. Teyla didn't even have time to take a second breath."

Ronon looked at the Athosian. "It's true."

"Very well," Teyla said. "Tomorrow we will give the Atlantians another chance to let us go. If we can't come to terms then we will asked you, Angel, to take us home."

"


	13. Chapter 13 - Flight of the Angel

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 13**

**Flight of the Angel**

**From Chapter 12, An Angel in Atlantis:**

_My worth to you lies not in my ability to fight. " Cas went on. "I can move you all in a moment anywhere on this planet you would want to be. I can take you all, all at once to the mainland, to your homes or even to the other side of the planet. You only have to indicate where you want to go."_

"_That's not possible," Ronon objected. _

_Cas stood up. "Where would you like to be, Ronon?" _

"_Just move me to the children's room." the Satedan said. "That should be proof enough."_

_Cas touched Ronon's arm and the Angel and the warrior disappeared. In a moment they were back. Teyla didn't even have time to take a second breath."_

_Ronon looked at the Athosian. "It's true."_

"_Very well," Teyla said. "Tomorrow we will give the Atlantians another chance to let us go. If we can't come to terms then we will asked you, Angel, to take us home."_

Chapter 13

Early the next day the conferees met again in the conference room. After only a few minutes it seemed apparent that positions had not softened overnight. Teyla and Ronon wanted the children back home, the Atlantians wanted to keep De and San in the City and promised to keep them safe but Dr. Weir appeared more troubled than she had been the previous day.

The communications link between Star Gate Command and Atlantis had been kept open and Star Gate was becoming furious at the refusal of Atlantis to drop the iris and allow passage of military units on to the base. Jack had pleaded with her, insisting that no harm would come to the children

Elizabeth could understand the pressure that Jack was under. He was passing the pressure on to her and it hurt. The politicians among the upper level of command on Earth wanted to pacify the Tok'ra. The Tok'ra wanted possession of the children and everyone was frozen in place.

Elizabeth knew the only thing preventing the seizure of Atlantis by Star Gate Command and replacement of not only her but every member of the military including John Shepard was that iris. As soon as the tenuous argument that it was there to prevent the Goa'uld from discovering the Peruses Galaxy begin to become thread-bare the truth would filter though. Atlantis was defying Earth.

Everyone sat around the conference table exhausted and numb. Finally Teyla finally decided to take the lead.

"I believe we all have come to understand each other. We all have conflicting opinions and demands are being made. I am not sure that even with extended negotiations we can come to an agreement however; I am willing to advance the idea that you may visit the boys after we get them back to the mainland. Humans only, no Tok'ra, no Goa'uld but the subjects of the ritual; does this help at all?"

Dr. Weir responded. "Teyla, I appreciate your offer. Let me communicate with Star Gate Command and see if a system could be set up that would allow the humans to escort various subjects here to us and then we bring the subjects out to you. At least let me see if they will consider such a plan."

Dr. Weir rose from the table and went to a side room to consult with Earth. Teyla and Ronon sat at the table with John Sheppard and the Atlantis scientists. No one spoke. The tension in the air was palpable. A stranger would have had a hard time believing that these people all had been friends for years. The main door opened and Marie walked in with San and De beside her.

"Hello, De. Hello San." Teyla said and stood up. "Thank you for bring them Marie. I appreciate it but have they had their breakfast yet? Why did you bring them here?"

"De said they needed to be here," Marie answered.

"We ate and then I wanted to hear what was going on." De spoke up. He took his brother's hand and tugged the youngster along the length of the table. They settled into the same places that they had sat the previous evening, separated from the adults by the length of the room. San fussed a little but De soon calmed him down. The little boy was almost swallowed by the big, stuffed leather conference chair and De encouraged his brother to put his head down on the arm and sleep. San curled up like a small furry animal and closed his eyes, confident in his brother's protection.

Elizabeth Weir came back to the table. She looked tired. Tired and discouraged.

"Teyla, we will have a reply later today. It's the best we can do. There are people who Jack must talk to first about any such arrangement. I can have you and the children escorted back to your quarters. Or I can arrange for you and Ronon to be taken to the mainland but my orders are that I can't let the children go yet. Not until an agreement is reached about future access to the children's skills."

Just then the speaker set up in the middle of the table chimed and Elizabeth put a hand out to activate it. "Dr. Weir here, "she answered. "Everyone in the room can hear you. Who am I speaking to?"

"Elizabeth, it's Jack." O'Neill's voice floated out. San's head snapped up. His nap disturbed.

"I thought it would just be better if I joined in directly instead of constantly taking you away from the table." Jack said. "I have received an unexpected fast answer on the Athosian offer and the Tok'ra are demanding access to Atlantis with their prisoners."

"General O'Neill, this is Teyla." Teyla answered. "I don't know who is there with you but I hope all interested parties can hear me.'

"There are quite a few people here, Teyla," Jack responded. "They're the reason for the fast response."

"Very well," she went on. "You all must realize by now that the reason we are in this situation is that we of Athos are angry with our treatment on Earth and we no longer trust either you or the Atlantians. I believe that if your people have access to the boys you will try to take them by force."

They could hear murmuring in the background at Star Gate Command. Jack's voice was prominent but the sounds of many people; some of them angry, in the room with Jack were undeniable.

"I am sorry to hear that, Teyla, however I am going to say outright that you are correct. I can't help it. We just can't keep up the pretense any longer. I am issuing an order and the military personnel in that room need to obey; take the boys now and open the iris or they will all be considered traitors and as such subject to arrest."

There was movement in the room and thee sound of more men moving outside in the corridor.

Teyla and Ronon stood and moved to the children. Ronon drew his gun and aimed it at his former friends.

Dr. Weir stood up. "Please, Teyla, Ronon, I'm sorry it has come to this. Please step away from the children. I'm sure you don't want them in the line of fire,"

"No one is going to be in any line of fire." a new voice sounded and the Angel Castiel appeared at the end of the table, his wings unfolded and shrouding the children, Teyla and Ronon in their embrace.

"Who are you?" John Sheppard surged to his feet, stepping in front of Dr. Weir as if to protect her from the new arrival.

Jack O'Neill's voice added to the sudden babble. "Who's there? What's going on? Sheppard, repot!?

John Sheppard responded to the General's order.

"A creature has appeared at the head of the table behind the children."

Jack snorted over the loud speaker. "Let me guess, it's a man with honking big wings and a deep voice."

Teyla spoke up. "Nice try, General. However you didn't count on the children having acquired a new protector during our stay on Earth. Goodbye General. Goodbye Dr. Weir, Major Sheppard. Don't bother trying to follow."

In a blink of an eye they were all gone. The only sound was a soft shifting of unseen feathers.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The five runaways appeared in the middle of Teyla's village. Her people had gotten used to the idea that Teyla seemed to be leading an interesting life and had made a number of powerful friends with unusual abilities, such as Ronon. However the ability to materialize out of thin air was unexpected. The usually composed Athosians were startled enough to let their surprise show.

Teyla turned to face Castiel. "We most likely will not have a lot of time, Castiel. The Atlantians will come in their ships as quickly as possible. We have perhaps twenty minute, no longer. Take the children and Ronon somewhere safe. I will stay here to deal with the Atlantians."

"I am sorry," Castiel rumbled "but I do not know your world well. Where do you suggest I take them?"

"As far to the east as this village is from Atlantis you will find a land full of tall escarpments" she answered. "Each escarpment creates an island in the sky and all of them are uninhabited. There is plenty of life and water. It has often been thought that the isolation of each island could provide highly defensible positions. My people refer to these places as the Cloud Meadows."

"I suggest you take De and San to one of the Cloud Meadows and make them a home. They will not be bothered by the Athosians. Each Cloud Meadow island rises from the plain below and are isolated from each other and from the world by vertical sides grooved with water falls."

"I suggest you hide the boys there and as the only way to find them would be at your pleasure just hide them well from sky searchers. You can communicate with me, accommodate Ronon when he wants to return and perhaps bring the boys to visit us when the furor over their disappearance is over. "

"I will simply tell the Atlantians when they arrive that I have no idea where you have taken them. Since I will be telling the truth, as I don't know what Cloud Meadow you will select, I should hopefully end their pursuit here."

Castiel turned his head to the side as if he was listening to a voice from far away.

"You are a good and kind person, Teyla and I know you will serve your people well" he said to her. "I have been asked to provide a method of communication so that if we are needed you can ask for us to appear."

"I am well aware that angels mean nothing to your people or you but I tell you the Vault of Heaven is empty in this place. If you need me or the children, just pray to the Angel Castiel and I will hear you. That is the way I always knew that my friend Dean needed me. It will work just as well for you."

Teyla nodded her head. "Thank you Castiel. Good journey."

She turned to Ronon and smiled. "Do you want to go on this journey with then, my friend? Don't let me make arrangements for you if you don't agree."

Ronon laughed and lifted his gun to rest on his hip. "No, Teyla, don't worry. If I didn't want to go you would know it. I am looking forward to spending time with our new angel friend and my little brothers. Perhaps now we will have time to learn the Satedan ways that I have long promised De."

Ronon looked down into De's green eyes and reached down to take the child's hand. "Ready to go, Castiel" he said.

Castiel turned back to Teyla. "I want you to understand that no one intended this to happen to the children. They should have been allowed to grow up and learn about their world before the burden of the avatars was placed on their shoulders. They are much too young for this knowledge. I promise that they will be allowed to grow up in their new home in peace. It was only the violence of the attack on their village that caused the avatars to descend prematurely. This should have never happened."

"Go, Castiel," Teyla responded. "You should leave before the Atlantians arrive. I personally expect to be inside drinking tea when they get here."

Castiel lifted his hand and placed his fingers lightly on her head. Pains that Teyla didn't even realize she had disappeared and a feeling of peace and wellbeing flooded her senses. In a moment she was the one who watched them disappear and heard only the soft movement of giant wings.


	14. Chapter 14 - Lost in the Dream

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 14**

**Lost in the Dream**

From Chapter 13:

_Ronon looked down into De's green eyes and reached down to take the child's hand. "Ready to go, Castiel" he said._

_Castiel turned back to Teyla. "I want you to understand that no one intended this to happen to the children. They would have been allowed to grow up and learn about their world before the burden of the avatars would have been placed on their shoulders. They are much too young for this knowledge. I promise that they will be allowed to grow up in their new home in peace. It was only the violence of the attack on their village that caused the avatars to descend prematurely. This should have never happened."_

"_Go, Castiel," Teyla responded. "You should leave before the Atlantians arrive. I personally expect to be inside drinking tea when they get here."_

_Castiel lifted his hand and placed his fingers lightly on her head. Pains that Teyla didn't even realize she had disappeared and a feeling of peace and wellbeing flooded her senses. In a moment she was the one who watched them disappear and heard only the soft movement of giant wings._

Chapter 14

The Angel Castiel carried them all away. It was only a fraction of a second to the humans. To Castiel it was hours. He scoured the Athosian jungle searching for the island escarpments that Teyla had described.

He found them half way around the planet almost exactly opposite Atlantis in its ocean. The islands were so far above the plain that clouds formed between the jungle far below and the island worlds far above. Those worlds appeared above the clouds like the backs of giant animals. Castiel picked one of the largest ones; full of vegetation, and small furry animals. There was a large rainfall lake. It fed numerous streams that eventually fell over the side of the escarpment becoming waterfalls that tumbled on to the plain below.

Those waterfalls were so high that a few of the smaller ones actually turned into no more than heavy mist by the time they reached the ground.

Castiel had brought them to the side of the lake. The children were very excited. They laughed and ran along the shore throwing pebbles into the water making wave rings. Castiel noticed that there seemed to be fish in the water. He wondered about these cloud worlds, so isolated from each other but still so full of life. There were no recording Angels stationed on this world so there was no one to ask about the history of the broken jungle plain.

Ronon was also pleased at their position. Evidently this landscape was very much like his home world. The Satedan was relaxed and sat down on the shore. He clasped his arms around his raised knees. He was smiling and laughing at the children's antics. All three of Castiel's charges were enjoying the Cloud Meadow.

Cas sat down beside Ronon. "It is a lovely place, is it not?" the Angel said.

Ronon agreed. "You have chosen well, Angel. It is good that Teyla knew about this place." The Satedan continued. "It is highly defensible. The only access is by air and I'm sure we can create a safe place for the children, camouflaged from the air. It is possible that the Atlantians will attempt to search for the boys."

"The Atlantians have life sign detectors on their ships. Can we do anything about that?"

Castiel considered the question. "I can shield the boys currently as they are small and won't wander too far from me. When they age, however, it will be more difficult. I may be able to do something for them but hopefully disappearing for a few years will discourage the hunters. We will just have to see what the future brings."

Castiel rose and spread his wings. He called De and San to him and they ran laughing up to their Angel. He took their hands in his own. "Come and walk with me." Castiel said. "I want to show you this world."

They followed one of the streams that ran out of the lake for more than a mile. The further they got from the lake the more the vegetation thinned. Finally, after about a half hour walk during which Castiel had to pick up San and carry him, they came to the edge of their plateau.

The small stream plunged over the edge and they stood and stared out over a deep abyss. They looked down on the cloud tops. Far away another Cloud Meadow rose from the mists. Dark shadows indicated others even farther away. The children stood and stared. "You see why you need to be careful this close to the edge" Castiel said to them.

"It's a very long way down and you don't want to fall off the edge of your world." The boys shook their heads solemnly. De reached up and took San's hand. "I'll be sure to watch out for San."

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Their first night was spent lying on the warm sands beside the lake. Castiel sheltered them all under his out spread wings and kept watch in the night. There were night hunters on the plateau however none seemed large enough to threaten the children. The Angel recognized a number of animals similar to the ones he had seen on Earth. There was a dark striped animal similar to an Earth cat that prowled the edge of the jungle preying on small nocturnal creatures that crept out to eat under the moon. There were night birds, one of which was very much like an Earth owl that also hunted these small creeping animals. Just at dawn there was splashing in the lake that seemed to mean that there were fish larger than the small flashing ones Castiel had noticed near the shore the day before. The children had tossed their pebbles into small schools of the silvery fish, scattering the shoal.

Also just after sunrise it rained. The cool droplets rolled off Castiel's wings and his charges stayed dry. The children awoke and huddled up against the Angel, watching the rain fall. Castiel gathered the boys in close and tried to keep them warm. Ronon woke at about the same time but he stayed on the sand, seemingly unaffected by the chill in the air.

Castiel was beginning to find the life cycle of these Cloud Meadows engaging. He watched as the clouds sank downward as the day progressed, creating the misty clouds that hid the jungle floor from their sight. He thought this might even be a daily occurrence. The search for a permeant shelter for the boys moved up the Angel's list of things to do.

Ronon rose and took the children to the shore of the lake The Satedan asked Castiel to lend him his sword and Castiel was amused to watch the tall man wade out in the lake and proceed to spear fish for their breakfast. He came back to the shore with his catch and built a small fire pit in the sand. The humans had fish for breakfast.

Castiel rescued his sword from Ronon. "My friend," he said to the tall alien. "You seem very comfortable out here."

Ronon smiled. "You might not know, Angel," the Satedan said while putting another piece of fish on De's leaf plate, "I was captured by the Wraith and for seven years they used me to train their trackers. I had a beacon implanted in my back and I spent those seven years running on various planets, living off the land and being captured over and over. I know very well how to live off the land."

Castiel was pleased. He could never teach the children theses skills. Ronon was the perfect companion and teacher.

"I am going to survey possible shelters," Castiel said.

"How are you going to do that?" Ronon asked and then was silenced as Castiel arched his wings overhead. "That was a stupid question," Ronan said and turned back to supervising the boy's breakfast.

Castiel lifted into flight and swept high into the sky. From his lofty vantage point he scanned the Cloud Meadow. He remembered the movements of the world that he had observed from his silent post on Earth. It seemed apparent that some portions of the Cloud Meadows were the remnants of volcanic cores left behind by erosion. Such plateaus were seen on Earth and well known, especially in the American deserts of the South West. Escarpments were also created by the movement of the tectonic plates. Where the plates met often up thrusts were violently created. These Cloud Meadows were the remnants of extremely violent events of the world long past. Gathering such clues he began to search for caves and he found what he expected.

On the opposite shore of the lake was a relatively shallow set of cliffs which were riddled with caves. He landed and inspected his choices. He found one close to the base that was deep enough to provide shelter and whose entrance was high enough to prevent flooding. It even had a natural chimney in the back that could be used as a smoke hole. He was very pleased with his discovery and returned to the al fresco breakfast party on the other shore.

Castiel gathered his charges and brought them to the place he had chosen. The children were as pleased with this location as they had been with the other. The addition of the cave was a new place to play. Castiel invited Ronon to sit with him in the entrance.

"I wish to return to Teyla and see how the meeting she was expecting with the Atlantians transpired." Castiel said. "Please make a list of articles that you believe are immediately needed here and I will endeavor to bring back as many of them as I can."

After a moment of searching for writing materials Ronon made a list of necessities. He used an Angel feather to write with, Angel blood for ink and Castiel's tunic as paper. After the list was complete Ronon stood and called the boys to his side.

"While you are gone I and my hunters in training are going to see what this place has to offer by way of food. " Ronon smiled at the boys. "First we are going to capture a small animal to be our friend and tell us what is good to eat and what is not; and when you return we hope to be able to offer you our prizes from the search."

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Castiel returned to Teyla's village but remained unseen. He wished to know exactly what he was exposing himself to before becoming visible. He had only fled with the children the previous day and had no way to judge how long it would take for the excitement to settle. The village appeared calm and none of the vessels called Puddle Jumpers were in evidence.

He made his way to the home where he had left Teyla and observed the human announcement of his arrival. Such a thing was not natural for Angels. Angels usually only went where they were either summoned or ordered. The idea of an angel deciding to go somewhere of its own volition was not normal at all. He stood at the open door until he was noticed.

An older woman came forward. "You're Teyla's friend, aren't you?" she asked.

Castiel considered if the description of friend was applicable then remembered that he was attempting to learn human ways. "Yes, yes I am Teyla's friend. Do you know where she might be?' he asked.

The old woman patted his arm, startling him considerably. "You just go on in and sit down. I'll fetch Teyla for you."

In a few moments Teyla was there.

"Castiel," she smiled. "I didn't expect to see you so soon. How is everyone doing? Are you settled in the Cloud Meadows?."

Yes, thank you for your concern," Castiel responded, attempting to mimic the human social interaction. Ronon is very pleased with the location and the children seem to like everything they see."

"I have here a list that Ronon made." Castiel pull the tunic seemingly out of thin air. The soft white sheath settled on the ground into front of Teyla, the lettering glisten as if made of silver. Teyla picked up the piece of cloth.

"Yes, I can see to it that these things are found immediately." She responded. "We have them all in abundance."

"How did you r expected meeting with the Atlantians turned out?" Castiel asked her.

Teyla smiled. "Pretty much as expected; they were very upset that the children were gone and even more concerned when I told them that I had no idea where you might have taken them." Teyla paused.

"You are quite the mystery to them, you know, Castiel." She smiled and ran the tunic through her hands, rubbing the soft material between her forefinger and thumb. "According to the Atlantians, beings like you are myths, fairytales, and fantasies. Those are only a few of the words they used to describe you. Your kind doesn't routinely appear on Earth, I gather."

"The people of Earth gave up on my kind, as you say, a long time ago. On Earth they only way to see an Angel is to believe in Angels. The people of Earth lost their faith a long time ago."


	15. Chapter 15 - To Catch an Angel

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. Stargate Atlantis belongs to MGM and its creators, Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, again, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.

**Star Born**

**Chapter 15**

**To Catch an Angel**

From Chapter 14

"_You are quite the mystery to them, you know, Castiel." She smiled and ran the tunic through her hands, rubbing the soft material between her forefinger and thumb. "According to the Atlantians, beings like you are myths, fairytales, and fantasies. Those are only a few of the words they used to describe you. Your kind doesn't routinely appear on Earth, I gather."_

"_The people of Earth gave up on my kind, as you say, a long time ago. On Earth they only way to see an Angel is to believe in Angels. The people of Earth lost their faith a long time ago."_

Chapter 15

De and San had found a small waterfall at the mouth of one of the streams flowing out of the lake. The little boys dove in and out of the falling water, laughing and splashing and sputtering water out of their mouths. Ronon sat on the bank of the stream watching the children play. The trees closed overhead throwing dapples of light on the water.

The Satedan lay back, folding his arms under his head and stared through the leaves at the clear blue sky above, which was mottled with tiny white clouds. The strident birds of the plateau, red bodied, with royal blue wings and white masks screeched their greetings to the people playing in their world. Ronon thought that this place was as close to his people's dream of paradise as a living being could find.

Castiel stood on the other side of the stream, invisible. He kept watch over his charges. He had kept silent watch at Heaven's order on Earth for thousands of years. Watching and remembering was what he knew best. This duty, though, was over people he loved and who, he hoped, loved him in return. This world and the visits from the Avatars called Sam and Dean were his most treasured gifts. He felt abandoned and abused by Heaven and all his brothers. He hoped that the Angelic hierarchy would forget about him.

In the week they had spent on the plateau they had made great strides. Their cave was warm and Castiel stood watch at night, absorbing the wonders of the nocturnal world and guarding against those animal hunters who would sniff around the edges of the opening. The children named their new home Skyeland. They had been very impressed by their visit to the edge and knew they were up very, very high above the land.

Teyla's supplies made all the difference between subsistence and comfort for the Angel's wards. Ronon was an enthusiastic hunter and was teaching the children not only how to hunt but how to forage. They had captured one of the small feline creatures they had seen on their first day and also a creature much like a tiny, furry earth pig. These two animals were Ronon's 'testers' and the children's pets.

De let the cat creature he call Minow ride on his shoulder. The pig called Rolf followed San around. Castiel was well pleased with their Cloud Meadow home.

It was while he was watching the children play in the waterfall that he heard the first ever prayer from Teyla. It was a hesitant calling out; a simple call, almost a test but laden with a thread of caution. There was no sense of urgency.

Castiel became visible. The children saw him first and De tried to splash him, pushing the water with his too small hands. Castiel smiled softly at the innocents and renewed his vow to keep them always safe. They were not Dean and Sam but they were burrowing their way into Castiel's shriveled heart. They would never know it but the Angel felt that they were giving him the will to taste life again and he felt he owed them more than they owed him.

He glanced at the Satedan. It looked a lot like Ronon was dozing off. "Ronon," Cas called out, disturbing the man.

Ronon startled into alert and laid his hand on his gun beside him in the grass. "Hello, Castiel." Ronon said. "Do you need me?"

Castiel stretched his wings out as far as they would go. Too long he had been carrying them furled and they felt tight and stiff. The children laughed and clapped at their friend's wonderful display. The iridescent colors rippled and danced over the surface of the pearlescent feathers.

"Teyla is calling out to me." Castiel said. "It is a very hesitant and cautious prayer. It is not a cry for help. There is almost a feeling of warning about it. I am going to go see her. I'll be back as soon as I can. Do you know of anything I could ask her for, if appropriate?"

In another moment Castiel was off to Teyla's ocean side village.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

In several millenniums of battle for Heaven Castiel had learned to be careful. All of Heaven's enemies had learned that there was just a moment of confusion during the manifestation of an Angel when a brief hesitation occurred and in which an Angel could be attacked. Angel garrisons were drilled regularly to be sure to arrive invisibly to counter this move. Castiel had been a garrison commander many times and he was no one's fool. He arrived on the edge of the woods just outside Teyla's village.

He was disturbed to see that Teyla appeared to be restrained by several of her own people. Gathered around were people Castiel had observed on Atlantis and a few from the Gate Room on Earth. Additionally there were a number of those double souled creatures that called themselves Tok'ra.

The men from the Gate Room, who Castiel had observed for decades, were carrying clay jugs which the Seraph recognized. He almost smiled in surprise.

Someone had been doing some research into Angel lore on Earth. Castiel believed these men were carrying ancient jugs of Sacred Oil. He was more than just surprised, he was amazed, that there had been any left on Earth to be found. He once again scanned over the welcoming party, looking for a stranger. There mixed in with the Stargate military he found what he was looking for; an older, scarred and rugged individual with the light of the fanatic in his eyes.

Castiel assumed this man was the one that had told the military of the oil. He had the look of a Hunter. How they had chased the man down and convinced him to talk was a question for another time. Right now Castiel knew he was looking at an Angel trap.

He watched as some soldiers started circling Teyla pouring the oil as they went. It was a pretty substantial circle they were drawing and the oil, of course, proved its worth by forming into a perfect circle, the oil moving and twitching in the dirt to align itself. Two other soldiers stood out ide the circle with torches in their hands.

When the oil moved Castiel heard a breathy "Holy crap." from a man standing close to him. Castiel could not help himself; channeling Dean Winchester he gave the man an answer. Out of nothing the word "Exactly" floated out.

Teyla was shaken by one of the men holding her arms and she called out, "Castiel!"

Castiel gave momentary consideration to appearing in his true form but then decided that there would be no advantage to burning the eyes out of sixty people. He spread his wings out completely and became visible. "What is that you need, Teyla?"

The entire group turned as he spoke. The Hunter cried out "That's an Angel, for sure."

Their trap now exposed as toothless the Command solders ran forward, six of them carried a silver net which they threw at the Angel while the double souled Tok'ra drew odd looking weapons of alien design and shot beams of energy at the Angel.

Castiel bathed in the energy. He had not felt anything like it for eons. It was like bathing in the energy of the sun. He almost burst into song; not the response these people were looking for he thought.

When all the people stopped moving he looked around at them then stepped forward, shedding the silver net like cobwebs. "That was exceptionally foolish of you," he said and waved his hand.

The jars of Holy Oil burst and the Oil sunk into the ground. The circle around Teyla, deprived of meaning, evaporated.

Castiel ignored all the warriors gathered around and focused on Teyla again. "What is it that you need Teyla"

"I am sorry, Castiel," she said. "They came with their demands and I'm afraid I finally gave in. They said they only wanted to talk to you. I did not think they would become so violent."

Castiel smiled at her. "I don't blame you Teyla. I know the men of Earth. I know their minds turn to force very easily. They are sure that talking to your perceived enemy is the recommended course only after the enemy has been defeated. Even then they only want to have the enemy tell them the things they want to hear."

He held out his hand to her. "Come to me."

The men holding her would not let her go so Castiel turned to John Shepard. "Commander Shepard, if you have control over these people then tell them to release Teyla. Have you not already done enough damage here? Once Teyla is with me I will talk with you."

Shepherd motioned for the men to let Teyla go and when they wouldn't move he gestured for some of his soldiers to approach. With the Atlantians closing in the villagers let Teyla go and she went to Castiel. When she reached him he tucked her behind him under the fold of his wing. "What do you have to say to me, Commander?"

"We wish to have the children returned to Atlantis where they will be safe," Shepard said.

"Safe from whom?" Castiel asked, "Safe from the Wraith, the Tok'ra, the Gould, your people, or the people in SG-1 on Earth? Just who do you want to protect the children from that I cannot do better?"

The leader of the Tok'ra, Command Aldine, stepped forward. "These children can help in the fight against the Goa'uld. They can help free worlds from the Goa'uld rule."

Castiel looked the two souled in the eyes. "You want them for their ability to separate the two souled, correct? You want them to draw out the snake people from the bodies of the possessed? Are not all your people so possessed? Are you not afraid that the children will turn on you if you try to keep them captive?"

"Here, now," a soldier from SG-1 spoke up. "We kept them safe on Earth. They were well taken care of and came to no harm."

"You kept them captive in locked rooms for months. They are children, not criminals to be locked up until your people need them. This is why I fled with them and now I am the only way to find them again. I promise you, they are very well hidden and have a guard to protect them when I am not there "

John Shepard turned his back and one of the Tok'ra immediately lifted a weapon and pointed it at Teyla. "Do as we ask." He yelled. "We may not be able to burn you but we can burn her."

That was the last words the Tok'ra spoke. Cas smote him from a distance and he watched both souls die.

"I warned you once. Do not be foolish. There is nothing you have here that can harm me. If you wish to talk then all you sit down and wait for me. I am going to take Teyla somewhere safe and then I will return. It will all take place very swiftly so don't bother trying to think up some useless trick. Think about what you want to say to me."

Castiel disappeared with Teyla and in just a moment she was delivered to the side of the waterfall where the children were playing. She was welcomed by Ronon with a bright smile. San and De climbed out of the water to hug her and get her all wet. She laughed along with the boys and Castiel was pleased.

"Why don't you take Teyla to the Cave and show her what we have done here?" he said to the children. "I'll be back in a little while and I will take her home again so hurry up. Show her Minow and Rolf. Feed her dinner. Go on."

Castiel watched them drag the laughing woman down the path, the children talking a mile a minute. After watching them fondly Castiel disappeared again.

_..-.._..-.._..-.._

Returning to Teyla's village Castiel found that the soldiers and their Commanders had taken him seriously. They found places to sit and John Shepard and the Tok'ra Commander Aldine sat in chairs near the place where Castiel had first appeared. Silently Castiel materialized behind them and considered his options. He knew that one of the problems these people had with his manifestation was that he appeared as a naked man. He knew they would be more comfortable with him if he appeared to be clothed and he carried on an internal debate.

Naked he threw them off balance and made them uncomfortable. He preferred it as it declared him clearly non-human and not subject to human morals. On the other hand, if he appeared clothed it would set them more at ease and perhaps move the discussion along faster as they were not distracted by his body.

He was well aware that he was attractive and decided to wear a white Roman tunic with a running band of gold along the hem. He had always favored that design as simple and functional. He smiled to himself imagining what Dean would say about him spending time deciding what to wear, or not wear, to a meeting. So he appeared with his wings invisible, between the two humanoids dressed in his Roman tunic.

Now he appeared to be simply another man and a soldier brought him a chair also. "What do you want me to do?" he asked. "Be very aware that no one is getting these children," he said in a stern voice. "They are in my care and there they will stay. I understand, however, the benefit your people can reap from the power these boys possess. How do you suggest we settle this problem?"

In the end they agreed that any prisoner that either Earth or the Tok'ra wanted exorcised would be brought to Teyla's village. Teyla would summon Castiel. She was the only one who could since her voice was the only voice he would attend to. When he arrived he would transport the prisoner and no more than six guards, naked, to the place where the children lived. They would not take or need weapons. Once the prisoner was in Castiel's power there was nothing he could do.

Castiel had pointed out that he could handle the prisoner by himself but Sheppard would not back down and Castiel conceded on the six guards.

It was agreed that no tracking devices were to be planted inside bodies. The children's location was inviolate and if an attempt was made to track Castiel's flight the agreement would immediately terminate and Castiel's wrath would be terrible.

The assembled people had seen an example of Castiel's power. The man's body was cooling in one of the outbuildings. They agreed to the terms and by the end of the meetings there was a much improved atmosphere among all assembled.

Castiel stood up and unfurled his wings, in preparation for taking flight. He actually didn't need to do any such thing. The Angelic showoff was simply impressing the natives. At times the Angel felt that perhaps just a touch of Dean Winchester had rubbed off on him.

He touched hands with John Shepard in a parody of a handshake agreement and turned to the Tok'ra Aldine. Simply touching the man put him into the mind of the creature living inside. It was a strange sensation to caress two souls at once. He looked into the Tok'ra' eyes and was startled by the hunger for power he saw there. This one would have to be watched.


End file.
